Super Paper Mario 2: The Tribe Of Darkness
by Haley Trapp
Summary: Super Paper Mario 2: The Tribe Of Darkness is a direct sequal to Super Paper Mario. It includes nine unexpected new heros, whole new chapters and locations, and of course a whole new adventure looking for the Pure Hearts! :
1. Prologue

**(A/N): Hello, this is direct sequal to the first Super Paper Mario. This isn't my story, It's my best friend's. I'm adding this with her permission because she doesn't even go on fanfiction to do it herself. It's an amazing story. Read and review please.**

Prologue

"Why do you think you deserve this?" asked Jaydes.

"Because I've changed my ways," replied the jester-like creature before her. "I regret what I did before my game ended. I've come clean."

Jaydes thought for a second. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Dimentio."

"Well, Dimentio, I'm afraid I can't allow you to enter The Overthere. The sins you committed during your game are too heavy. You tried to destroy all worlds! You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Reeeeeeally..." said Dimentio, exaggerating his tone.

"Yes, feel free to explore The Underwhere, but that's it."

"Reeeeeeally..." repeated Dimentio. "I think you'd be saying something very different if you knew about what just happened to me."

Jaydes was unafraid; she dealt with liars and smooth-talkers trying to enter The Overthere all the time. "Oh?" she asked, doing a bad impression of being interested.

"When my game ended, I suddenly remembered something. Something about myself that had been cleared from my memory."

"And... what does this have to do with you entering The Overthere?"

"More than you think!" Dimentio used his exaggerated tone again. Suddenly he snapped his fingers, and red bolts of energy condensed around Jaydes. She tried frantically to shake them off.

"Jaydes," announced Dimentio, "Grant me life once more!"

The energy bolts had a strange effect on Jaydes mind. "Yes...Master...Dimentio," she uttered, not sure why she was saying it. She then began a strange chant about Game Overs and continuing. Soon, a glowing star appeared above Dimentio, and he was drawn into it. He found himself standing in front of the purple door on Flipside Tower.

"Excellent," the jester snickered to himself. "Now to find Count Bleck, or if he prefers... Blumiere!"

X - X - X - X - X

Suddenly, the world seemed to invert. Lord Blumiere and his wife, Timpani, were pulled into some kind of vortex, and before they knew it, they were standing on the third floor of Flipside. "Huh? What just happened?" asked Blumiere.

"Why, I'll tell you what just happened," said a familiar voice beside him. "I spent _forever_searching for you, Blumiere, so I could bring you here. I didn't intend for Timpani to come here as well, but I suppose it doesn't matter."

Blumiere turned his head to the side. "D...Dimentio?" he uttered. "What are you doing here? And...alive?"

"I have changed my ways, Lord Blumiere," explained the jester. "I was granted a second chance, and I wanted to apologize for what I've done."

Timpani, silent during this time, noticed something. "If you wanted to applogize," she began, "why didn't you just come to where we were instead of taking us to _this _place?"

"Ah ha ha ha...you're clever, Timpani. But not clever enough!" With that, he snapped his fingers, and the red lightning bolts surrounded Blumiere. Timpani jumped back in fright while Blumiere struggled.

"EY!" cried another familiar voice. A burly man jumped into the confusion and shouted at Dimentio. "Whattya think yer doin' to me boss?"

"O'Chunks!" exclaimed Dimentio. "I must admit I'm suprised to see you here. Why, I'm just doing him a favor."

"It looks more like yer harmin' 'im in some way to me! And an enemy 'o Bleck be an enemy of mine, Dimentio!"

O'Chunks charged at Dimentio. Quickly moving out of the way, Dimentio snapped his fingers once more, and a lightning bolt came down right on his attacker. "Ah ha ha! You're at as intelligent as asparagus is tasty, pathetic minion. Attacks like _that _won't work against me."

"Must...defend...Count..." mumbled O'Chunks, in too much pain to move. He looked at the Heart Pillar beside him. Somehow he got the feeling that the Pure Heart was in danger. He took it out of the pillar.

Just then, the energy constricting Blumiere vanished, but he seemed different then before his struggle. "Blumiere! Are you well?" asked Timpani.

Blumiere then did something Timpani never would have expected. He drew his staff, and it produced a blast of energy which sailed toward Timpani at a supernatural speed. Timpani shrieked and then collapsed to the ground.

"Excellent, Count Bleck!" applauded Dimentio. "And we haven't even started lessons yet. You're doing a fantastic job."

"Thank you...Master Dimentio," said the Count.

"What in blazin' bog rats is goin' on 'ere!" said O'Chunks. "Count! Snap out of it!"

"Count Bleck," started Dimentio. "Your first task...end O'Chunks game!"

"Whaaaaa?" shouted O'Chunks. "Bleck, what did I ever do to yeh?"

Before he even finished speaking, Count Bleck again used his magic energy attack, sending O'Chunks flying off the edge of the third floor. "You did well," said Bleck's new master, "but you need to focus on ending his game, not sending him flying."

X - X - X - X - X

"I'm Chunked!" O'Chunks sobbed, down on the second floor. He then noticed a blue pipe next to him. "Mmm...oh, that's right! This pipe's the one goin' to Flopside, innit? Nastasia'll know whatta do!" He jumped down the pipe.

Bleck and Dimentio had just decended to this level. "Where is he?" wondered count Bleck.

O'Chunks travel to the third floor. "Ey! Nastasia! Dimentio's over 'n Flipside an' Bleck be tryin' to end me game!"

"What? Slow down, O'Chunks."

"Slow down! They probably be lookin' for me right now!"

"Dimentio's in Flipside and the Count is trying to kill you?"

"That's what I seen!"

"Um...I think you were just dreaming, since Count Bleck is somewhere we don't know, and Dimentio's game is over."

"I swear I saw 'em over on the third floor o' Flipside! You gotta believe me! Please!"

She sighed. "Alright, O'Chunks, I'll see what I can do about it." _What has this guy been eating?_

"Thanks, Nastasia! I knew I could count on yeh."

Nastasia and O'Chunks returned to Flipside. After walking in the direction of Flipside Tower for a few moments, nothing happened.

"See, O'Chunks? They're not here. You were just dreaming."

"But...but...but..."

"I'm leaving, 'K?"

"You're not going anywhere, Nastasia," came a familiar voice from behind her. Nastasia turned around. Standing before her and O'Chunks were Count Bleck and Dimentio.

"See!" Cried O'Chunks."I told yeh! It's them! In the flesh!"

"Nastasia, I would like for you to try something for me," said the Count, sounding very benevolent. Nastasia, never one to disobey Count Bleck, stepped forward. "No! Don't yeh see? It's a trap!" Just when Count Bleck was about to zap her into oblivion, O'Chunks came running from behind and tackled her legs, sending them both tappling under the bolt.

"Count!" exclaimed Nastasia, shocked. "What are you doing?"

"He is my servant now!" announced Dimentio.

Nastasia was puzzled, but simply asked "If you're trying to kill us, why'd you have to make the Count do it?"

"This is a secret I will keep to myself at the moment."

X - X - X - X - X

Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser came out of the green door atop Flipside Tower. "_That _was a gun space-swim," remarked Luigi.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Peach.

"Forget you guys!" Bowser stomped off. "I'm going to the arcade, baby!"

The other heros sighed and followed Bowser down the elevator. For a moment, when they emerged, they thought they were dreaming. O'Chunks and Nastasia were standing before them, being attacked by Count Bleck!

"What the heck?" uttered Bowser. "What's going on here?"

"I, Count Bleck, am putting the beginning stages of Dimentio's master plan into motion!"

"What!" Bowser noticed Dimentio behind Count Bleck! "You!"

Count Bleck bowed. "Yes, me...Count Bleck!" he began to speak in a formal tone. "The one who had been brought to this dimention...is Count Bleck! The current assistant to Master Dimentio...is also Count Bleck! And the ender of the games of his former minions...is again Count Bleck!"

The heros were too shocked to tell the Count that they were _between _dimensions, not _in _one. They stood there, mouths hanging open, unable to comprehend how Dimentio or Count Bleck could have returned.

"I'll tell you who doesn't even make a little bit of sense...Count Bleck!" repeated Bowser.

"Master Dimentio!" exclaimed Bleck. "Leave this...to Count Bleck! He will destroy his former minions...and the heros, too!"

"Very well. If you fail, you'll need more training."

"What is going ON?" sputtered Luigi.

"I'll tell you what's going on," said Dimentio. "When my game ended, a part of my memory that had been erased came back to me. I used this knowledge to escape from the after game and bring Count Bleck to this dimension. Count Bleck and I will reactivate the Chaos Heart...and use it to destroy all dimensions!"

Mario, who had been silent until now, spoke up. "First of all, how did you turn Count Bleck...like this? Second, why do you want to kill Bleck's minions? Third, didn't you already fail to destroy all dimensions before? And speaking of which, fourth, _how _do you think you're going to reactivate the Chaos Heart. Even if you do, we'll just take the Pure Hearts and defeat you again!"

"Oh, but you can't just run up and take the Pure Hearts. That would make it a bit too easy now, wouldn't it? I have already scattered the Pure Hearts across the dimensions! You have no hope of reaching them all before the Chaos Heart consumes all worlds."

"What! You mean we have to search for the Pure Hearts again?"

"If you wish to stop us, that is, which I wouldn't even bother trying. Your time is up, heros and Count Bleck's former minions! Bleck, take them down!"

"Yes, Master Dimentio!" Dimentio vanished.

**Boss: Count Bleck**

"Count Bleck thinks he will destroy you first," said the Count, pointing with his staff at Mario. "You're the most dangerous of them all!" Without warning, he preformed the energy blast again. Mario, having done things like this before, jumped out of the way and landed on Count Bleck with his mad jumping skills. "All right, maybe you've still got it in you," admitted Count Bleck. "But can you stand up to this?" He produced a strange whole, similar to the Void, and Mario was sucked in, and odd, perpendicular lines started forming across the area where Mario was.

"Mama Mia! Is this some sort of new attack?" Not knowing what the lines were, Mario moved to the middle of one of the squares the lines formed. As it turned out, he correctly guess what to do, because at that moment, blue-hot lightning bolts flashed across the lines Count Bleck had produced. Once they ceased, Mario again took his chance and leaped upon Count Bleck repeatedly until the Count could stand it no more.

He wrestled free of Mario's stomps and flew to the left of the elevator leading up to the top of Flipside Tower. He fire another magic blast, this one being more compact than the rest. When it hit the ground, it suddenly exploded in eight different directions! Most of the blasts flew through the air, but one managed to hit Mario and another put a local Flipside resident out of commission.

"Count Bleck will end your game now! And once he does, he will move on to the rest of you! Have fun in the Underwhere!" Count Bleck fired another magic beam at the tired Mario. But since Mario is always full of energy, he managed to jump the attack and nail Count Bleck a final time. The weakened Count staggered a bit, then addressed Mario and the others. "You may have managed to beat Count Bleck this time, but he will annihilate you the next time you meet! Dimentio will not allow you to get the Pure Hearts...and once the Chaos Heart is unleashed once more, you will regret you ever tried to stop Dimentio...and Count Bleck!" A box enclosed Bleck, and he flipped out. Out of the area, that is.

Merlon's head was buried in the Light Prognosticus. He was investing something at the bottom of the last page he had previously assumed to be unimportant. "...and upon the return of a powerful enemy..." he read aloud to himself. "...revelations will occur, treachery will spring forth, and the four-"

"MASTER MERLON!" A Flipside resident burst through the door. "You see, um...uh...um...er...uh...that guy! Those guys! Them! People! Population! Popcorn! Popsicles!"

"Slow down! Calm yourself, lad. Now, who?"

"You see...um...that guy, the guy who killed Mario and those others?"

"Is that...Dimentio? First of all, he _didn't _kill them. Second of all, didn't _he _die? ...Actually, that was probably the first thing..."

"I swear I saw him! Over by the Heart Pillar! The one on the third floor! And there was this...shadowy guy with him and some lady! And then they went down to the second floor, and then Mario started fighting with him in front of the elevator!"

"Really? Well it seems like something I should check out." Merlon and the boy left the house. The action had already calmed down, although Nora desperately needed hospitalization. "Oh ho! It seems our four hero's and two former minions are here as well. Pray tell, was Dimentio here, along with a 'shadowy guy' and 'some lady'?"

Peach responded. "Yes! We saw Dimentio and Count Bleck, and they were going to end Bleck's minions' games, and Bleck was working for Dimentio. I don't know why, but Dimentio said that when his game ended, he'd regained memories he'd lost, and then somehow forced Count Bleck to serve him. He wanted to kill Count Bleck's minions, and he said he'd reactivate the Chaos Heart, and that he's scattered the Pure Hearts across the dimension so we can't stop him."

"Interesting..." mused Merlon. "I just so happen to be reading the Light Pr-say, what about the lady?"

"A lady? We didn't see any-"

"Oh! That's right!" interrupted O'Chunks. "Timpani! When Dimentio brought Bleck 'ere...she was with 'im! And Bleck knocked 'er out 'er somethin'!"

"Goodness, we have to get to her aid immediately!" announced Merlon. The group began walking toward the elevator to the third floor.

"How are you feeling, Timpani?" asked Merlon, after a few minutes had passed.

Timpani's vision cleared until she saw Merlon, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, O'Chunks, and Nastasia standing before her. "I...I'm fine." In her true form, Timpani resembled Peach somewhat; slender, she looked like a princess, and more like a girl ready to get into action.

Luigi started. "Gee, I can see why Blumiere fell in love w-" but Mario clamped his hand of Luigi's mouth before he could finish his sentence.

"Blumiere!" Timpani uttered suddenly. "He...Dimentio came and he did something to him! And he..."

"Yes, Dimentio somehow forced Bleck to serve him," answered Merlon. "To quote Peach, we saw Dimentio and Count Bleck and they were going to end Count Bleck's minions' games, and Bleck was working for Dimentio. I don't know why, but Dimentio said that when his game ended, he'd regained memories he'd lost, and then he somehow forced Count Bleck to serve him. He wanted to kill Count Bleck's minions, and he said he'd reactivate the Chaos Heart, and that he's scattered the Pure Hearts across the dimensions so we can't stop him.

"That's _exactly _what I said!" remarked Peach.

"When you spend your days reading passages from ancient books, you acquire a good memory," Merlon explained. "Now, I just so happen to be reading the Light Prognosticus. There was something at the bottom of the last page I found. It told that since the union of a fair princess and a monster caused the Chaos Heart to be unleashed, the Chaos Heart can be deactivated if this union is dissolved."

Except for Bowser, the heros were startled, and then they remembered; Peach was still married to Bowser! "Whoa, whoa, WHOA there! Peach and I are staying married, and THAT'S THAT! shouted Bowser. Can't we just use the Pure Hearts like we did last time? Without me having to forsake my lovely wife?"

"Yes, but you are missing the bigger point here. If Dimentio hadn't forced Bleck to serve him, then Bleck could have just cancelled the marriage if Dimentio had managed to activate the Chaos Heart. But now that's he's with Dimentio, that's not an option."

"Well I'm glad about it!" huffed Bowser.

"So that's why Dimentio did it," realized Timpani. "So what should we do to stop Dimentio?"

Mario had been waiting for this moment. "First things first, we should look for the Pure Hearts that Dimentio stole. Once we have them all, we'll be able to stop Dimentio."

"But how do we do that?" asked Peach. "We have no idea where Dimentio put them, and the doors won't help us anymore."

Merlon spoke up. "This brings me to another this I was going to say about the Light Prognosticus. I read that when a Pure Heart is placed in a pillar, it automatically creates a door leading to the Pure Heart of the next successful color-Red, Orange, Yellow, and so on. The doors will in fact, lead you to the correct dimensions. Also I read something else of significance. "Upon the return of a powerful enemy," he recited. "revelations will occur, treachery will spring forth, and the four hang on, wait one minute." Merlon looked at the page again, and after a few moments, he finished. "...and the four will become nine." He closed the Light Prognosticus.

"So there's going to be _nine _hero's?" asked Luigi.

"That's what it seems like..." Merlon's voice trailed off into the distance. "Now, we need the Pure Hearts, but we need to find the red one before the doors will even appear. And we don't know where the red one is!"

O'Chunks suddenly remembered he was carrying the Pure Heart with him. "Ey, It's not lost! It's right 'ere!" He displayed it proudly.

"O'Chunks! Why do you have it?" asked Merlon.

"I dunno! I got the feelin' it was in danger, so I took it!"

"Excellent! Now, hero's, place the Pure Heart in the Heart Pillar on the third floor to create the red door. Your search for the Pure Hearts start here!"

"Well, wait a second," started Luigi. "How do we know Dimentio isn't just making an enemy threat? He could really have no way to reactivate the Chaos Heart and just send us on a wild goose chase."

"I was thinking that, too, but...if he was able to hypnotize Bleck like that, and with these passages in the Light Prognosticus, it seems that Dimentio is a true threat."

"Wait," said Timpani as the heros were about to leave. "I must do anything I can to bring my husband back."

"Do you intend to travel with them?" asked Merlon.

"Yes. I'm going to do whatever I can to defeat Dimentio. Please, grant me some kind of power...Turn me back into a Pixl...Anything, _anything_, to rescue Blumiere."

"Hmm...I am a bit rusty in my old magic skills, but I'll see what I can do." Merlon gathered his strength, and as it turned out, he was still proficent with his magic skills. Timpani disappeared, only to be replaced by a multicolored butterfly of sorts. "I have granted you the power to become a Pixl or a human at will that you can benefit the hero's on their journey."

"Thank you, Merlon..." replied Tippi.

"Now, hero's, take the Pure Heart and begin your quest!"

PURE HEART GET!

Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Tippi walked out of Merlon's house to the right and took the elevator up to the third floor. Mario placed the Pure Heart in the Heart Pillar, causing strange pulses of energy to occur. Odd red patterns appeared, and meanwhile, the red door was drawn into existence atop Flipside Tower. Taking the elevator down to the second floor and then up the top of Flipside Tower, and Mario and the others entered the red door.


	2. Chapter 1 1: A Rough Start

**(A/N): Mmkay, I know in the description I said I was going to update every weekend. I'm just going to upload whenever I can now, probably sooner then the weekends. Thanks for all of the reviews, I'm so happy you like it, and my friend is like super happy too. I hope you'll all be excited to know that there is going to be 40 chapters, and that there will be a sequal called Super Paper Mario 3 (haven't thought of what it's going to be called yet, if you have any ideas name them) and it's going to have the same amount of chapters. Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, enjoy the chapter! :)  
**

1-1 A Rough Start

_Once again, Mario and his friends set out to save all worlds, questions ringing in their heads. How did Dimentio plan to reactivate the Chaos Heart? How did Count Bleck become his ally? Why did he want to kill Bleck's minions? Mario, though, eager to begin a new adventure, wasn't bothered by these unknown answers. "C'mon!" he encouraged. "The first...err, second Pure Heart should be around here somewhere." And so our heroes started their journey to find the eight Pure Hearts once more._

A line was drawn.

Join this line were several others, short vertical lines that came in pairs of two. Above these lines, several other pointy lines appeared and joined the pairs of lines they appeared above, forming what seemed to be pine trees. Wispy clouds appeared in the sky, followed by a sun whose position indicated it was middle-late afternoon. The ground became colored green-and-brown, areas of green colored the trees, and the sky took on a blue hue with the sun becoming yellow and the clouds being white with an ever-so-light orangish hue. The white thingies on either side disappeared, the red door was drawn into existence, and before they knew it, they were standing in the middle of a forest.

"I feel the Pure Heart in this dimension..." announced Tippi. "But, like always...it's still far away."

Bowser groaned. "Why can't we just get these Pure Heart thingies right away so we can stop that lunatic? Wouldn't it make things a lot easier?"

"Be patient, Bowser," scolded Tippi. "It's no use complaining about the inevitable."

"HEY! Little butterfly things that lecture the great Koopa King don't have very pleasant futures."

"Bowser, It's no use," said Mario. "Let's just get this going."

Bowser turned to face Mario. "SHUT UP! You don't lecture me either!"

Luigi figured he might as well say something. "Bowser, you're the one who should be quiet. Let's get on with our search without distractions like these."

"Why, you...get over here!" Bowser looked raging mad.

"Bowser, stop griping and get on with it!" ordered Peach.

"Yes, my lovely wife."

X - X - X - X - X

While he was no longer accompanied by any of the Pixls, Mario still had ever powered skills. He walked to the right, jumped on a goomba, did a stylish move, his some ? Blocks and Brick Blocks, got a few mushroom, and so on and so forth. After walking through the woods for a while, our hero's came upon a door, which they entered.

They emerged in another part of the woods, and they could hear water rumbling. "Is there a waterfall here or something?" asked Peach. Her question was soon answered, for as they took a few more steps, the forest abruptly ended at a cliff overlooking a lake that was being fed by a tall waterfall. A wooden bridge spanned the lake, but it seemed to have broken in several places.

"We'll have to be careful as we cross this bridge," warned Mario.

"Did you really need to point that out?" complained Bowser.

Mario jumped across the gaps until the bridge seemed to end, although it had another section that lay above them. He couldn't jump high enough to reach it! _Oh wait. _He preformed his trusty A-Button-Flip-Into-3D tecnique, and a spiral ramp appeared that took him to the above section, where he flipped back into 3D. He continued jumping across the bridges, occasionally using the conveniently placed Koopa Paratroopas as stepping stones. Eventually, he reached another cliff where the woods began again. There were a few pipes and Piranha Plants here, but they posed little trouble to Mario and friends.

The first disaster of their quest came not long after that. Our hero's were walking calmly among dense trees, although they could see and hear the waterfall not far away. Some of the trees stuck out of the ground at odd angles, making if difficult to avoid falling into the raging waterfall without weaving carefully through the branches. Mario, leading the group, came upon an area where he could look down and see the mighty waterfall break into a series of interrupted falls far down the cliff. He started upward, having no clue where the water was coming from in the first place.

Luigi read Mario's face. "You're sure dumb-" he started, but it sounded like he wasn't finished.

Mario turned to where Luigi's voice was coming from. "Why, you-" he shouted, but then realized Luigi wasn't there. "Huh?"

"I WAS SAYING 'DUMBFOUNEEEEEED!" The other hero's looked in the direction of the voice. Apparently, Luigi had stepped on a loose branch, sending him careening over the edge of the cliff, precariously hanging onto a small branch.

"I'll get you," encouraged Mario. He weaved through the trees back to wear Luigi was hanging.

"Come on, bro, I'm not sure I can hang on for much long-" Suddenly, the branch snapped, sending Luigi tumbling down the falls!

"I'll get him!" announced Mario. He jumped down.

"Oh no," worried Bowser. "What are we going to do without them?" He turned to Peach. "Yeah! Now, my lovely wife, let's enjoy life _without_-"

"Bowser, if Mario jumped down there to save Luigi, chances are it'll be safe to jump if we land in the water. So I'm going too." She jumped down the falls.

"Oh, great," grumbled Bowser. "Well, if Peach is doing it, I might as well." He followed suit.

Tippi shrugged, which was pretty hard to do considering she had neither shoulders nor arms, and floated down.

X - X - X - X - X

Luigi was kicking and screaming (as if that helped him at all) as he cascaded down the waterfall. Just before hitting the lake below, he closed his eyes, mumbled a quick prayer, and plummeted into the drink. Soon afterward, Mario, Peach, and Bowser followed. Tippi soon came down as well, floating above the water's surface. Luigi frantically thrashed in the water until he was free of the waterfall's crushing influence. "Help!" he cried, bobbing to the surface. However, he wasn't able to receive it; the current in the small lake pushed him away from the waterfall and toward another, luckily, smaller, waterfall. Luigi observed the others crashing down the cliff, and yelled "Help!" again, but it was too late. He was sent crashing down another waterfall, the other hero's quickly followed him.

"You're OK, Luigi?" asked Peach once they had drawn closer together.

"I think so."

"So how do we escape?" asked Bowser.

"It looks like the waterfalls empty out into a lake," explained Mario. "We might just have to wait until we get there, and then we can resume our search."

"What! More wa-"

"AAIIEE!" shrieked Peach as she fell over another waterfall onto a large rock stuck in the river.

"Peach! Are you OK?" asked Mario. He attempted to reach over to where she was, but the current pulled him and the others away from her.

Peach groaned, clearly in pain. She gently pulled herself back into the water, being as careful as possible, now floating several yards behind the others. "I've got to help her," explained Bowser. "I'll slow myself. You two go ahead."

"But-" started Mario.

"Just leave! I'm going to take good care of her!"

Mario and Luigi, reluctantly, wordlessly agreed with Bowser and continued down the raging river. Bowser took Peach's hand. "Is everything fine, dear?"

"I don't need help! I'm fine!" replied Peach, obviously just to get away from Bowser.

Apparently Bowser didn't get the hint. "Hmm...you look a little scraped, but aside from that you're fine. Say, when you're done with this adven-" Another waterfall shot Bowser away from Peach, who soon followed.

X - X - X - X - X

Eventually, our hero's reached a calmer lake that they floated into. "Looks like we're safe," noticed Luigi.

Tippi had caught up with them. "Actually, I think that fall down the river might have been a good thing. I sense the Pure Heart more strongly here. It might be somewhere across that beach," she continued, referring to the beach in front of them.

"All right, then let's explore this beach and continue our search," announced Mario.

The group climbed out of the lake, Peach having some difficulty. Mario gently helped her out of the water and onto the grassy ledge. In front of them, a slope led down to a sand-covered beach. It had been some time since they had started their journey; the sun was lower in the sky, which was starting to acquire faint red and orange streaks, turning the water a multitude of colors. It was truly a sight to behold.

-END OF CHAPTER-


	3. Chapter 1 2: A Sunset Stroll

**(A/N:) Thanks for the reviews! Out of 27 people, I've only found 2 that didn't like it. :)**

1-2 A Sunset Stroll

_Having survived their first trial, our heroes walked out onto the nearby beach. The water sparkled before them as their shoes touched the sandy ground. They were undoubtedly closer to the Pure Heart, though where it could be was still a mystery. "Let's go this way," advised Tippi. "I feel it more strongly over here." The heroes followed her across the beach._ Our heroes strolled along the sunset beach, Tippi leading the way. As they walked, jumped on Goombas, hit ? Blocks, and so on, a few small clouds gathered on the horizon.

Our heros continued walking ahead until they came to a slight uprise. "After all that flat terrain we've been traveling through, this is a big suprise," noted Luigi. "Well, nothing like a little change to liven things up," reassured Mario.

"Yes!" exclaimed Bowser. "I was getting SO bored! This slight uprise just made things interesting again! THANK YOU SLIGHT UPRIIIIIIIISE!"

If Bowser was excited over a "small uprise", he was sure to be having the time of his life as the group traveled on. The road ahead of them became increasingly rugged, taking them up hills and around bends. The ground became less sandy and more rocky, and large rocks littered the landscape, making walking along the ledge difficult. It was almost the as being in forest, except with rocks instead of trees.

"These rocks are hard to get around," complained Bowser, who apparently wasn't having the time of his life.

"Just be careful not to fall down into the water again, Luigi," jokingly warned Mario.

"You're so dumb-"

"Why, you-"

Luigi was pretending to fall of the cliff. "Just kidding, Mario!"

"Don't scare me like that!"

"Why not?" asked Bowser. "I'm having the time of my life!"

"I thought you were frustrated by the huge boulders blocking our way."

"Well, I was, but you two brought all the humor back! In fact...why don't you _really _fall off-"

"Bowser, this trip would be a lot easier without you at the Mario Bros.'s throats all the time." commented Peach.

"Yes, my lovely wife."

X - X - X - X -X

After some time of this, the ground suddenly dropped, forming a cliff, and the flat, sandy ground continued away from it. "NOW what do we do?" asked Bowser. "Well, you could try to climb down using jutting rocks or something," suggested Tippi. Mario took her suggestion and began slowly climbing down.

"Well, you could try to climb down using jutting rocks or something," suggested Tippi. Mario took her suggestion and began slowly climbing down.

"That's easy for you to say!" griped Bowser. "You can just float down!"

"I don't see any other way," Tippi replied.

I guess you're right," Bowser grumbled. He began climbing down, very slowly. After a few seconds, though, his grip slipped and he plummeted toward the ground below. "WHAAAA!"

"Mamma Mia!" exclaimed Mario, who was toward the bottom of the wall. Before Bowser could crush him, he jumped to the side, and he and Bowser both fell into the sand below, making large splashes.

Luigi was laughing, but Peach was concerned. She slowly climbed down herself, Luigi following, and watched Mario and Bowser struggle to lift themselves out of the sand. Mario pulled himslf out after a few seconds, but Bowser, being bulkier, was having quite a hard time. After he remained stuck for a few seconds, Luigi said "You think we should help him out?"

"Um...sure," agreed Mario. They each grabbed one of Bowser's feet and pulled until Bowser popped out of the sand. He looked around.

"Oh yeah! I got ouuuut of the saaaaand all by myseeee-" He noticed Peach was giving him a disapproving glare. "Sorry, my lovely wife."

"I'd appriciate if you'd stop calling me that."

"OK, my wife."

Peach sighed.

X - X - X - X - X

While they walked some more, the small clouds along the horizon grew, and eventually they covered half the sky with a pinkish blanket. A man became visible as they drew closer to him. He wore a sailor's hat, blue clothing, and large boots.

"Looks like rain," he said to himself. "And _that_ means that **Yo Ho Joe** certainly won't be back before tomorrow. Oh, why me!"

The man didn't seem to notice the five to the side of him. Tippi hesitated for a few moments, then spoke. "Um, excu-"

"WAAH! Who are you guys? You must be pirates!"

"No, no, we're not pirates. We just want to know...have you seen anything resembling a large, glowing heart around here?"

"No. I haven't seen anything like that. Why do you want it?"

Tippi considered what to say and what to leave out for the sake of time. "We must collect seven of them, all hidden somewhere in different dimensions, in order to stop an evil madman from destroying the universe."

"Really? Well, gee, that's pretty serious. Would you mind telling me your names?"

"I'm Tippi. The one with the red hat is Mario, the green-hatted one is Luigi, the big one is Bowser, and the remaining one is Peach."

Always glad to meet new friends. My name is **Chip Ahoy**. I welcome you to this beach, even if I can't help you find what you're looking for.

Tippi thought for a moment. "There must be _some_ way you can help us...hmm. Who is this Yo Ho Joe you mentioned earlier?"

He's my friend. He was once a pirate, but he was exiled on this beach some time ago because he didn't like plundering other ships. One day we found each other, and we've been friends ever since."

"And he's off somewhere?"

"Yes. There's been some mysterious earthquakes around here lately, and since he's spent most of his life at sea and is more experienced than me in ocean travel, he went to check out what he thinks might be the source of the earthquakes, out in the water, toward the area we call the **Dusky Shallows**."

"The Dusky Shallows?"

"Yes. It's an area of water riddled with small land masses that has very high and low tide levels. He went out there to check it out, as I said before, since he has more experience so I wouldn't be put in danger. What a pal, huh?"

Hmm. Strange earthquakes?" Tippi turned to face the heroes. "It's unlikely, but the Pure Heart _might_ be out there somewhere in the Dusky Shallows..."

"You think so?" asked Chip Ahoy. "Well, you'd better stay here for the night and wait until Yo Ho Joe gets back so we can look together and see if he discovered anything."

"We really don't have time. We should start now."

"Now? You don't even have a boat! Few have survived going into the Dusky Shallows without a ship."

While Tippi thought again, Luigi spoke. "You don't need to worry, Chip Ahoy. Mario's a well-known hero where we come from. He can get out of practically any bad situation unharmed. I'm not kidding."

Except when he rescues Peach," protested Bowser. "He just creates trouble then. Trouble for me, that is."

Truly? Well...I guess I won't stop you. But I've got to warn you, it's dangerous out there!"

"We know, but time is of the essence," replied Tippi. "Are we ready?"

"I'm ready for anything!" assured Mario.

Well, OK," agreed Chip Ahoy. "To reach the Dusky Shallows, just head out into the ocean that way," he finished, pointing.

"All right," said Peach. "We'll see you later."

-END OF CHAPTER-


	4. Chapter 1 3: Wet or Dry?

Chapter 1-3 Wet or Dry?

_As our heroes waded out into the Dusky Shallows, the pink clouds began to cover the sky from horizon to horizon, turning the sky pink around the horizon with a faint blue hue near the top of the sky. Soon, just as Chip Ahoy predicted, a light drizzle began falling. "We should see if we can find Yo Ho Joe," advised Luigi. _

_"He might have learned something that could help us find the Pure Heart."  
_

_"Sounds like a good idea," agreed Tippi. "Let's look for a boat." But doing that would be harder than the five had expected, for as Chip Ahoy had warned, the Dusky Shallows was a dangerous place to be without a ship..._

Mario and the others plunged into a portion of deep water. The water was surprisingly warm, a welcome comfort in this area.

"I don't see a ship anywhere," observed Bowser.

"Well, it's likely he's farther into the water," explained Mario. "We're sure to see him sometime."

They still hadn't seen him after more swimming. Chip Ahoy was right once more by saying that the Dusky Shallows was a treacherous area if you didn't have a ship. Dangerous-looking fish swam around the small landmasses and sandbars, making maneuvering difficult, although they did not actively pursue the group members. As if that wasn't enough, large waves began crashing into the sea, tossing our heroes back and forth. "I'm starting to think we should have waited after all," remarked Luigi.

"You know what we should do?" asked Mario. "We should all lock hands, forming a circle, so that we don't drift away from each other. It's too shallow here for us to dive and avoid the waves."

"What?" asked Bowser, who had been swept fifteen feet away from the other heroes.

"We should lock hands so that we don't fall apart from one another," repeated Luigi, after he had drifted somewhat closer.

"Good idea," agreed Tippi.

The four heroes of prophecy locked their hands so that they couldn't be pulled apart. For a while, this stabilized them. However, as the waves grew ever choppier, the group was tossed and turned amongst the vicious waves. The interlocked circle of heroes was sent forward and backward, although their struggles to move forward resulted in a gradual forward movement. That is, until a particularly large wave appeared. "Whoa, this wave is a huge one!" remarked Bowser. And huge it was. It slammed into our heroes with full force, sending them spinning and flying backwards over the ocean. Finally, they touched down on a small section of a sandbar that rose above the surface, where they lay for a few minutes, breathing heavily. They couldn't stay there for too long, though, since the light drizzle had grown heavier. It wasn't quite a downpour, but it was enough to make our heroes want to get out there and find Yo Ho Joe as soon as possible...or just give the whole thing up. "This is crazy!" shouted Bowser. "What are we doing out here in the middle of nowhere looking for some guy that got lost? We should've stayed onshore for the night, instead of having to endure this!"

"You're probably right," said Tippi. "But there's nothing we can do about it now. We just have to press on."

"Fine."

Tippi came up with a new group strategy. "You four should lock arms this time, and form a line rather than a circle. You won't be as easily pushed around that way." "Let's try it," agreed Peach. They followed Tippi's instructions, moved forward, and the position indeed had benefits. The heroes continued onwards, still battered by waves but more stable.

X - X - X - X - X

After some time, they encountered a landmass emerging from the water. If not for the rain that was now coming down hard and fast, it would be a sanctuary from the ever-treacherous waters except for the fact that its sides sloped steeply upward, forming a near-vertical wall that was impossible to climb. "This is strange," observed Peach. "Why is this pillar of land here out in the middle of nowhere?" She turned back in the direction they had come from, and she could just barely see the landmass they had swam away from. "We've come a long way from shore," she reflected.

"Hey, what's this?" observed Luigi. He pointed at a point underwater. The others looked, and saw the entrance to an underwater cave going beneath the island. "You think we should go in there?" asked Tippi.

"Well, it MIGHT be a safe haven from all these rain and wind and waves," said Bowser. It was dark in the underwater cave, but not pitch-black because the area was lit up by several electricity-producing, jellyfish-like Jelectros. They floated in place, zapping anyone who dared to come too close.

"These things look extremely dangerous," cautioned Tippi.

"I know," replied Mario. "I've encountered them before." He and the others nimbly swam through the schools of Jelectros in the winding passageways of the tunnel. After a few turns, the tunnel split in two, forming a passage going up and another one going down.

"Which path should we go down?" asked Mario.

"Well, you can only go _down_one of them," responded Luigi. "Just kidding with you. Hmm...I think we should go up. Let's see if this storm has stopped yet." "I agree," stated Bowser. "Let's get out of this grotto." They started up the passageway, climbing up through the tunnel, and eventually, they emerged in the open. The rain had calmed down a bit, as had the waves, although they were still quite strong. The area was surrounded by small landmasses, but the most obvious aspect of what they saw was the small boat not far from them.

Tippi was relieved. "This must be where Yo Ho Joe is! Let's go and see him." The heroes treaded across the water to the boat. "Hello?" greeted Tippi.

The person on the boat turned around. He was certainly Yo Ho Joe; he wore a pirate's hat and clothing that matched. "Eh? You're all out 'ere without a ship? Not very wise choice. How did you make it all the way 'ere?"

"Well, we didn't really have a choice," explained Tippi. She briefly described their situation to him, including how they met Chip Ahoy on shore.

"What a yarn! You're being honest about all that? Well...I 'ave noticed the earthquakes seem to come from over there." He pointed further in the direction they were traveling. "It's a place called the **Dusky Temple**. They say it was created to imprison a fearsome sea monster."

"An underwater temple?" asked Tippi, since there was no readily visible temple in sight.

"Aye. I 'ave a hunch that monster is angry. An' perhaps hungry."

"Hmm...you think it has something to do with the Pure Heart?" asked Bowser.

"It might be so."

"You're probably right," agreed Tippi. "I feel the Pure Heart's energy more strongly here than ever before. It's sure to be nearby."

"You plan on entering the Dusky Temple?" asked Yo Ho Joe. "It's probably mighty treacherous. You'd best avoid that accursed place."

"We have no choice. If the Pure Heart is there, we have to find it at all costs."

"Sure about that? Bad things happen down there in Davy Jones's locker."

"We can get through it. They're the heroes of prophecy, after all."

"Ehhhhh...I guess. Maybe you could pull it off...well, no use sitting 'ere and talking. The entrance is down in that cave over there. Where the path splits, take the lower path. I 'ave to tell you, though, there's a door at the bottom of that shaft, and it's locked."

"A locked door? It's probably the entrance to the Temple..."

"Aye, that's probably so. I got no clue where in the seven seas the key could be, though."

"Well, it seems we should look for it."

"It might not be 'round here...in fact, it could be anywhere."

"We must find it if we're looking for the Pure Heart."

"Well, if you must."

Mario and company didn't know where to start looking, so they simply plunged below Yo Ho Joe's boat into the waters, which were calmer still, but the rain persisted. They surveyed the ocean floor, but after looking all over the nearby area, they couldn't find a thing except some fish. "So what should we do?" asked Luigi. "Look somewhere else?"

Mario thought. "It probably is somewhere else. Gee, where could it possibly-" A thought hit him. "Wait a second." He flipped into 3D, and a chasm appeared in the right side of the area. He dove down it at full speed, careful to avoid the fish, and lo and behold, the key was resting in a small depression on the sea floor. Mario grabbed it, swam to the surface, flipped back into 2D, and rejoined his friends. "I found the key!" he announced, displaying it.

"Never thought it would be near 'ere," reflected Yo Ho Joe. "Go look for your Pure Heart, and let me know if you make it out alive."

"We will," promised Tippi.

X - X - X - X - X

Back in the cave, our heroes descended the narrow passageway until all they could see was blackness. Just when they thought they would be plummeting forever, they abruptly hit rock bottom. Luigi was so startled, he yelped.

Mario felt around for a door, and eventually found one in the darkness. He carefully inserted the key into the lock, and the door opened, revealing another tunnel. Apparently, they were still some way from the Dusky Temple.

"There's a light at the end of the tunnel," noticed Peach. "No, I mean literally. There's a light at the end of the tunnel!" The others looked, and there was indeed a brighter area at the end of a tunnel that confronted them. They walked over to it, and came out in a larger area illuminated by hundreds of Jelectros. What's worse, there were more of those dangerous-looking fish in this area.

"Oh, great," mumbled Bowser.

They tried to weave through the fish and Jelectros. They were successful at first, but soon, a rather large fish crashed into Mario, sending him backwards, just inches away from being electrocuted!

"Eek!" uttered Peach. She swiftly moved over to where Mario was and pulled him away from the Jelectro, just before he would have been zapped.

The five continued in the room until they came to a large door. "This must be the entrance to the Dusky Temple," noticed Tippi.

"I'll handle this," announced Bowser. He gathered his strength and charged for the door. His body crashed against it, but the door didn't budge. "Darn. Looks like a tough one." He tried ramming into it several more times, but was fruitless in his efforts.

"Let me show you an easier way," said Peach. She calmly walked up to the door, turned the knob, and gently opened it. The heroes and Tippi went inside, Bowser having an embarrassed expression on his face.

-END OF CHAPTER-


	5. Chapter 1 4: A Light in the Dark

Chapter 1-4: A Light in the Dark

_Bowser still embarrassed, our heroes delved into the Dusky Temple. The corridor started to look less natural, and more like it was carved by human hands. The walls were lined with white bricks with intricate purple designs. "An underwater temple," remarked Peach. "This place is incredible!" "The Pure Heart is ever closer," announced Tippi. "I think we may have to confront this 'monster'..."_

As soon as Tippi finished her sentence, the entire temple shook. "Whoa!" exclaimed Bowser. "This is one of those earthquakes!" Just then, the group thought they heard a roar in the distance.

"That must be the monster..." observed Tippi. "Perhaps the Pure Heart has awakened it after years of slumber?"

"It's possible..." said Mario. "Let's go and find the Pure Heart."

They swam through the dark corridors and down an even darker shaft. Eventually, they reached a door, the first of several.

The Dusky Temple was like most of the typical Castles and Fortresses our heroes had visited, except that it was completely underwater. A spiked ball, attached to a chain, orbited around a point embedded in the bricks below. Mario, who know all about this stuff, explained. "Since we're underwater, we'll move slower, and thus this spiked mace will be harder to dodge. Be careful, everyone." Looking past the obstacle, our heroes could see that the next door in their path, located at the top of a few steps leading up, past the ball, was locked, and they hadn't seen a key anywhere.

"Oh great," complained Bowser again. "_Another_ locked door that needs a key that's lost somewhere."

"The last one was right near us," pointed out Tippi. "This one might be, too..."

A sudden thought hit Mario. "Your surroundings are often the clue to whatever obstacle confronts you. This spiked mace, since it rotates around a point contained within these bricks, seems to be going right through the bricks. However, it might not actually be going through the bricks. It only _looks_ like that, because we're in 2D. So, everyone, stay right here. I'm going to get the key." He flipped into 3D, and the spike ball was indeed rotating around a path that took it through a hidden hollowed-out section in the staircase that had a door at the far side. He quickly entered the door before he began to take damage from being in 3D too long.

The room he entered looked like a long corridor with nothing in it, but Mario wasn't deceived. He swam to the other side, expecting some kind of trap to activate. A trap indeed activated, but not quite what he expected. After he had reached about the midway point, a spear suddenly extended from the floor, narrowly missing him. _Whoa! I've got to be on my guard._. His assumption was correct, for as he continued, more spears targeted him from the floor and ceiling, but he managed to stay ahead of them. Suddenly, one appeared from the ceiling right in front of him, knocking him back. Just then, another extended from the floor, forcing him to move further backward. The assault continued. _Whoa. I'd better do something about this._ He flipped into 3D again, making the spears much easier to dodge. However, they continued appearing at different 3D points, making them a maze to navigate through. Near the end of the tunnel, a treasure chest, presumably containing the key, rested. Figuring the spears were almost done, Mario flipped back into 2D. Just as he was about to reach the chest, another spear appeared from the ceiling and caught Mario right between the back of his overalls and his shirt. He tried to push forward until he figured out what had happened. _Oh great._ He dropped down toward the floor, attempting to reach the chest this time, but a small part of his overalls were still caught. Just then, one last spear appeared just in front of him, making it impossible to sink any lower. _Now what do I do?_In a desperate move, he separated his legs, pulled them up until he resembled a contortionist, and then slowly lowered his upper section until he was free of the spear and upside-down. Relieved, he flipped right-side up, banging his head and his feet against the two spears. _This just isn't my day._He finally opened the chest, got the key, and swam back through the now-spearless corridor, his head and feet throbbing.

X - X - X - X - X

Reunited with his friends, Mario put the key in the door. Our heroes emerged in a very dark room.

"I can't see a thing in here!" uttered Luigi.

"Hmm..." Mario had been in dark rooms before, but getting through them always required different methods. He swam through the darkness for a few instants, and then his head smashed against something, triggering light from a disco ball above. _This is just totally not my day._

"Hey, we can see now!" rejoiced Peach. They all swam ahead, Mario delaying a bit. As they continued, another earthquake occurred, and the ground shook heavily. Another roar echoed through the temple.

_I'm not sure if it's the Pure Heart or ME that's waking this thing up._

The disco ball gave light to the room, and as they proceeded through, they reached a door that was blocked by a wall. Naturally, Mario flipped into the third dimension, but he saw only a wall, and an up arrow was painted on it. He looked up, and there was indeed a passageway through the ceiling. He flipped back into 2D. "There's an up arrow on the wall," said Mario.

"So...what are you saying?" said Bowser.

"Up? That's my specialty, bro! Let me try!" said Luigi. So he..."Oh, wait, we're underwater. We can just...swim up there, right?"

They all swam upwards, Bowser finally figuring out why, and faced another one of those strange fish. Bowser roasted it with his breath as our heroes discovered a new passage at the top of this tunnel. Eventually, they found a large switch in a cage.

How do we get into this cage?" asked Tippi. Mario flipped. He found a switch. When he pressed it, the _vertical_ bars on the cage disappeared, but not the _horizontal_ ones.

"Is there another switch we have to hit?" asked Peach.

"There doesn't seem to be anything else around here," observed Luigi.

Tippi began to search the room."Hmm...I sense a door..." Suddenly, a door spontaneously seemed to appear. They walked through the door, and after scorching Cheep-Cheeps, Bloopers, and the occasional giant kelp, they found another switch. When it was hit, the horizontal bars on the cage disappeared, but the vertical bars came back. When they gathered by the cage again, they were puzzled.

"I don't sense anything else out of the ordinary in this room..." said Tippi.

"Hmm, if the switches activate a certain set of bars, maybe we have to hit them both at the same time," said Mario.

"Sounds like a plan! said Luigi. "I'll hit the one in that other room, and you hit the one in here because you can flip."

"Good plan, but how do you know when to hit it?" asked Peach.

"We're brothers," said Mario. "We know."

Okay, I guess you know what you're doing," said Tippi. Luigi went through the door. Mario waited, then flipped and hit the switch. Sure enough, they hit the switches at the same time, and there were no horizontal or vertical bars blocking their way. "How did you know when to hit the switch?" Bowser asked Mario. "I know my brother. Actually, I made an educated guess based on the width of the room and-"

"Don't bore me with all that science stuff, OK? So let's hit this big switch." When they did so, the temple shook again, but there was no roar.

What just happened?" asked Bowser.

Mario knew what it was from the start. "It's certainly that door down there that was blocked by a wall. It's open now." They swam back through the corridor and to that door near the up arrow sign, and the wall blocking it was indeed gone. They entered the door.

X - X - X - X - X

When they emerged, they were in a well-lit room that seemed to be crumbling apart. The first half was like the rest of the Temple, but it became progressively more cracked and dented, and in a few places, the dirt was visible. Not much was in this lonely room except for yet another door. As they were about to enter it, the Temple shook once more, much more violently than before, and a loud roar again echoed through the temple. "The Pure Heart is near..." announced Tippi. "Very, very near..." They entered the door, not knowing what to expect.

They came out in an underwater room that looked nothing like the Temple; it was underground with walls of dirt. It was also very large. There didn't appear to be a door of any sort in this room. "Where are we...?" wondered Tippi.  
Suddenly, an earthquake occurred, more powerful than ever before, accompanied by a roar of equal magnitude. Slowly, something orangeish-yellow emerged from the far side of the room. It had gigantic spiked tentacles that thrashed about, and from this distance, it looked like an over sized Blooper. But if this monster was a Blooper, it was some mutated freak of nature. As well as its other distinguishing features, it had huge red eyes with compound sections like an insect's, and strange extra appendages along its sides that looked like claws. It unleashed another mighty roar, shaking the room once again, and spying our heroes, extended its spiked tentacles and attempted to choke them to death.

**Boss: Monster Blooper**

"Look out!" shouted Tippi. Our heroes dived out of the way just in time. "That...thing. It has the Pure Heart. I'm certain of it! We must find some way to defeat it!"

"How can we do THAT!" exclaimed Peach. "That thing's the hugest Blooper I've ever seen, and it doesn't seem to have any obvious weak points!"

Luigi ducked out of the way of a tentacle swipe. "We can't attack it without getting its tentacles out of the way, but we can't attack the tentacles because they're covered with spines!"

Bowser had an idea. "We can attack them. Or rather, I can, because I can attack indirectly!" He unleashed his firey breath on one of the tentacles, and it shriveled and dropped, the Blooper roaring again. It extended four of its tentacles to try and crush the heroes. Bowser managed to attack three of them before they caused any damage, but one of them managed to smack Mario against a wall.

"Mario!" exclaimed Peach. She swam over to him. "Are you fine?"

"I...think so. It hurts, but I'm not down. I can live with it."

Stay there, plumber," advised Bowser. "I'll show this monster and all of you how the Koopa King gets the job done." He continued burning the Blooper's tentacles. When there was only one left, Bowser tried pulling off a stylish move while using his fire breath, but his delaying caused him to be the victim of the tentacle he was trying to destroy.

"Waah!" He was too smacked against a wall. The Blooper roared again, and tried to use the tentacle to put Mario out of commission. While Peach tried to protect Mario, Luigi came up with a plan while the beast was distracted. He moved underneath it and unleashed his Super Jump, aiming right for the beast's eye and dealing a large amount of damage. The monster recoiled, and then performed its usual routine of roaring. It used one of its claw-things to grab Luigi and start squeezing the life out of him. "Haaaalp!" he yelped. Bowser had since recovered, so he swiftly swam to the claw and tried to pry it open. The monster noticed this, though, and brought another claw over to Bowser, attempting to give him the same fate as Luigi. Just before it did, Bowser managed to loosen the first claw enough to let Luigi out. He crept underneath the Blooper and Super Jump-damaged it again, making it release Bowser. It was quite weakened now. Mario and Peach, having not done much during this time, swam over to where the action was. The Blooper was trying to use its remaining tentacle to attack Luigi. While Bowser destroyed it, it brought another claw over to where Luigi was. Mario, feeling the need for some heroism, swam over to the claw and kicked it out of the way before it could grasp Luigi. Distracted by the others, the monster didn't notice Bowser sneaking up along the floor. Without warning, Bowser delivered a finishing blow of fire for several seconds. The monster gave a roar of defeat (what else), slowly sank, and then crashed to the ground with a defeaning quake. Its carcass remained motionless.

X - X - X - X - X

In a flash of light, the orange Pure Heart appeared in front of our heroes. "Here it is," announced Tippi. "The second Pure Heart."

"Gee, I guess that monster turned out not to be so tough after all, huh?" observed Bowser.

"Chip Ahoy and Yo Ho Joe didn't think we could do it," started Mario, "and, I must admit, even I had my doubts. But we prevailed in the end."

"I wouldn't have expected anything less from the heroes of prophecy," congratulated Tippi. "So let's take the Pure Heart and get back to Flipside. We're one step closer..."  
Mario swam up to the glowing Pure Heart and took it in his hands.

-END OF CHAPTER-


	6. Intermission 1 2

**(A/N): Happy Halloween! I just finished trick-or-treating. I think I'm a little too old, fifteen this Saturday (Nov 06). I'm pigging out on candy now, LOL! :)! Enjoy the next chapter, too bad It's just an intermission.**

Intermission 1-2

_And so our heroes prevailed through their first trial to find the second Pure Heart. Through a dense forest, a sunset beach, a stormy ocean, and finally defeating a large monster, they were successful in their mission. They were one step closer to being able to defeat Dimentio and Count Bleck...but, of course, six Pure Hearts still remained. Six Pure Hearts located in unknown dimensions were still waiting to be collected. The adventure had only begun, and it wouldn't be over anytime soon. Meanwhile, Dimentio and Count Bleck are aware of the heroes' actions..._

"Well, Count Bleck, you're doing a fine job so far."

"Count Bleck says thank you, Master Dimentio," thanked Count Bleck, meeting with his master in Dimentio's newly refurbished castle.

"You're welcome. But you alone might not be enough to stand up to the heroes. They have already managed to find two Pure Hearts."

"Then we should do what I once did," advised the count. "Make sure they don't find them."

"Exactly. I will be looking for good minions-in-the-making. Also, I will go to the dimension the next Pure Heart is in and protect it from the heroes. You continue your training here."

"Yes, Master Dimentio."

"Now, I will be off. Besides searching for potential minions, I will also continue trying to kill your minions. Once you are powerful enough, you may join me."  
"Yes, Master Dimentio."

"That is all. I'll now be off." Dimentio vanished.

"Count Bleck will now train!" Count Bleck flipped out.

X - X - X - X - X

"General O'Chunks! The soldiers are ready to battle."

"Excellent! Send 'em out, and we'll get rid of all o' them."

"We're doing nicely so far."

"Right. So..."

"Hey, wait a second!"

"Wha! What's goin' on 'ere! We're losin'!"

"Didn't one of your advisers-"

"I'll be chunked! They've all fallen!"

"This is not good. Not good at all..."

"I'm ruined..."

X - X - X - X - X

"What's happening, O'Chunks?" asked Nastasia.

O'Chunks snapped out of it. "Well, yeh see...I was thinkin' about my old army days. I was the greatest general in all the land, an' one of my advisers sold me out. All o' my men fell to the enemy."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear it. You tried the best you could."

Out of nowhere, Dimentio appeared next to the base of Flipside Tower. "Ah ha ha! You seem to be hanging out here, am I correct? And it looks like Mimi has joined you as well. All the better, for now is your final hour!"

"Huh?" wondered O'Chunks.

"Not _you_!" exclaimed Mimi.

"Not me? How could I be anyone but me? Me, here to demolish all of your hopes and dreams...and all of YOU!"

"What do you want?" asked Nastasia. "Why do you want to harm us?"

"Look inside yourselves, pitiful minions. You all have special talents. Talents that will work for my benefit."

"That ain't makin' even a wee bit o' sense!" shouted O'Chunks. "Yeh want to use our talents, but yer tryin' to end our games? How do yeh think all this is gonna come togetha?"

"That is a secret I will keep to myself at the moment. Now, calmly allow me to end your games."

"No way, Mr. I'm-going-to-destroy-the-world!" exclaimed Mimi. "We won't let you do that!"

"Your resistance, it is as foolish as a person who would willingly pay 599 coins for a video game console! If you won't calmly accept your fate, I'll just have to force it upon you!"

O'Chunks walked up to Dimentio. "Yeh two, hide somewhere safe! I'll take care o' this wacko!"

"You think you can stand up to me? Very well. Prepare to enter the aftergame!"

**Boss: Dimentio**

Dimentio hovered towards Merlon's house and fired a ball of energy at O'Chunks. O'Chunks dodged the assault. "Yeh think yeh can best O'Chunks with somethin' like THAT?" he taunted. He leaped into the air and nailed Dimentio with a ground pound. The jester vanished, only to reappear above O'Chunks. Dimentio fired another energy ball at his target, and this time O'Chunks wasn't as prepared. He was hit by the energy and knocked back. Dimentio charged up for another assault, but O'Chunks swiftly charged for the enemy and hit him with a large jump. He vanished again, and reappeared behind the unaware O'Chunks. He was hit again, and his stamina wasn't quite what it was before. "Feeling a bit out of it, O'Chunks?" teased Dimentio. He once more unleashed his energy attack, squarely hitting O'Chunks and putting him out of commission, at least for now. "I'm chunked!"

Mimi and Nastasia, who had been watching from a not-very-far distance, hurried to rescue O'Chunks. Thinking quickly, Nastasia dragged him off to the inn. "So you're the only one to stand up to me now," Dimentio taunted Mimi. "I'll dispose of you just like I did your friend."

"_I'm_ not going to fail like he did! You'll never get away with your plan! TRUE MIMI, COME FORTH!" Mimi tilted her head until her neck cracked and then rotated her head until it was completely upside-down. A chiming sound played for no apparent reason, and then Mimi's head grew and became moldy and wrinkly. Long, spidery legs extended from Mimi's upside-down head, and as she raised her new head, her right shoulder dislocated, leaving her normal body hanging uselessly from her giant head, and before I could get any more descriptive, her transformation into a giant spider was finished.

Dimentio, undaunted, quickly flew in the direction of the inn where O'Chunks was being healed. He prepared another energy ball attack, but Mimi was too smart for him. She ducked the attack and fired a sparkling red Rubee from under Dimentio (I don't even want to know where it hit). As per usual, the jester vanished, but when he reappeared, _two_of him reappeared. The pair of Dimentios moved to opposite sides of the arena and fired their energy blasts. One of them flew over Mimi, but the other nailed her square in the head. To further confuse her, the two Dimentios flew to equally random parts of the battlefield and repeated the attack. Mimi was hit again. The Dimentios vanished again, and while they were gone, Mimi pulled her legs up and attached herself to the ceiling. When he reappeared, only one of him this time, Mimi was ready. She produced another Rubee and hit Dimentio's head. When he reappeared again, there were two of him again. Their combined stealth did Mimi in. She collapsed to the ground and returned to her normal form.

"Does anyone else dare to challenge me?" dared Dimentio.

Nastasia quickly ran in and dragged Mimi to the inn as well. When she returned, Dimentio seemed amused. "_You_ think you can stand up to me? You're just a lowly _secretary_! In fact, I'll give you a free shot. Here, try to hit me!"  
Nastasia tried to do just that. However, Dimentio quickly produced an energy ball and sent it her way, knocking her back. "HEY! You said you'd give me a free hit!"

"Did you really believe me? Ah ha ha! Foolish minion, I'll defeat you as well, and then I'll kill all of you!" He vanished and reappeared with a duplicate. They readied their energy attacks, but Nastasia ran up to one of them and kicked him right in the face.

"So you've got something. But you won't...uh...survive my next assault!" Dimentio seemed weakened.

"I can stand up to you any day, 'K? You're just about finished."

Dimentio's clone disappeared, and the real Dimentio hovered up near the ceiling and snapped his fingers. Nastasia knew what was coming, and she quickly jumped out of the way before she was enclosed in a glowing yellow box that soon produced a massive explosion. Dimentio repeated the attack, but Nastasia knew what to do. She jumped on top of the box, jumped toward Dimentio, and delivered another kick to the face.

"What!" Dimentio exclaimed, weakened and unable to fight any longer. "I've lost to...these _minions_?"

"There were three of us, and only one of you," pointed out Nastasia. "We'll make sure you never manage to end our games, 'K?"

Dimentio grumbled. "Fine! You may have won this time, but I'll back! I'll be back for your lives! Until next time...Ciao!" He disappeared.

X - X - X - X - X

Mario and friends came out of the red door and used the elevator to descend to the second floor of Flipside. They saw O'Chunks, Mimi, and Nastasia standing there, looking quite exhausted. "What happened?" asked Tippi.

"You missed the whole thing," reported Nastasia. "Dimentio attacked us, but we fended him off."

"Dimentio attacked you? It makes me wonder why..."

"He said that he'd use our talents for his benefit. But we don't understand how he's going to do that if he ends our games."

"Hmm...well, we managed to find the next Pure Heart."

The commotion had made Merlon exit his house. "Well, well, it's the heroes. I trust you've found the next Pure Heart?"

"We did," reassured Tippi. She related all the events that had happened to Merlon. "Intriguing," he finally mused. "If Dimentio ends their games...he...they...oh, it's just so confusing! Hmm...I have a thought. Do you think Dimentio killing Bleck's minions has anything to do with him reactivating the Chaos Heart?"

Tippi thought. "It's possible...but I don't really see how it could happen."  
"Well, it was just an idea. Well, now that you have the second Pure Heart, go ahead and place it in the next Heart Pillar. I'll continue checking the Light Prognosticus and seeing if there's anything I missed."

"OK."

X - X - X - X - X

Tippi and the heroes walked to the outskirts of Flipside, a wild place with weeds growing in several places. They had traveled this path before, so they needed no instructions. They descended a pipe to the right and emerged a floor below, where they walked to the left, flipped (at least Mario did) and moved further into the outskirts. They walked to the left again, where Princess Peach used her parasol to float across the floating stone blocks. At the end, there was another Heart Pillar. They placed the Pure Heart, and the strange patterns appeared again and the orange door appeared atop Flipside tower. Walking back to that spot, our heroes walked into the orange door to begin looking for the third Pure Heart.

-END OF CHAPTER-


	7. Chapter 2 1: Cacti and Cowboys

Chapter 2-1: Cacti and Cowboys

_Dimentio's attack made everyone wonder. What did he hope to accomplish by killing Bleck's minions? Hopefully, they could continue to fend him off while our heroes were away. They had collected two Pure Hearts so far, and now they were on their way to find the third. What awaited them behind the orange door? "I'm feeling kind of hot..." complained Tippi as they stepped into the new dimension._

A line was drawn.

Joining this line were a few others, pairs of lines that formed the bases of cacti. Needles were drawn on the cacti, giving them an intimidating appearance. Crooked lines were drawn on the ground, making it cracked. The sky was barren except for a few small clouds that were not going to rain anytime soon. Dull tan filled the parched ground, the cacti became green, and the sky took on a light blue hue that indicated it was midday. Small weeds appeared in cracks in the ground. The orange door was drawn into existence, and the heroes stepped out into the desert.

"Looks like we're in the middle of a desert," observed Tippi.

Bowser was about to say _You just figured that out?_ but he changed his mind at the last second.

"The Pure Heart should be somewhere around here..." mused Tippi.

"Which direction should we go?" asked Mario.

Before Tippi could respond, everyone heard the sound of hooves pounding. Dust appeared in the air, and a large brown horse stopped in front of them.

"Are y'all lost?" came a voice from above the horse. Our heroes looked, and on the horse was a full-blown cowboy, complete with hat and lasso.

Tippi spoke. "Well...we're looking for something called a Pure Heart. I can sense when it is near, so I guess we aren't really lost."

"Really, then. Well, I reckon y'all should come to town. We've got refreshments and everything you need to continue your journey." He pointed. "It's over in that direction. Well, see y'all later! Giddyap!" He sped away on the horse.

"Well, do you think we should try to reach the town?" asked Tippi. "Or should we focus on the Pure Heart?"

"I say we go for the town," suggested Bowser. "I'm burning over here!"

"Me too," agreed Luigi. "We'll be able to rest there before resuming our quest."

"The town it is, I guess. Let's go."

Our heroes began walking in the direction of the town. After a while, they began to feel very hot and dry. "I'm glad we decided to travel to the town," said Peach. "I don't know if I can survive the trek without water."

"I would've collapsed on the spot," said Luigi.

X - X - X - X - X

When the town came into view, our heroes were even more glad they had decided to walk there. They walked past townspeople, bought some water at a store, and sat down outside to refresh themselves.

"This hits the spot!" exclaimed Bowser

Tippi noticed something. "Well..." she started, "I think coming here was a good thing in more ways than one. I sense that the Pure Heart is closer here. Maybe we should ask the townsfolk if they've seen it."

"Really?" asked Peach. "Sounds like a good idea."

When they were finished with their water, Tippi spoke again. "We should split up. Mario, you can search from the edge of town to the saloon. Luigi, you should take the saloon to the general store..." She continued assigning parts of the town to the heroes. "...and I'll take the rest."

"We should meet back here at a certain time," pointed out Luigi.

"Oh, yes. Let's come back here in...half an hour, is that good? Yes, that's plenty of time. Well, I'll see you all then."

Tippi and the heroes split up and went to their respective parts of the town to ask.

X - X - X - X - X

"Excuse me," said Mario to a passing resident. "Have you seen or heard about a glowing heart-shaped object?"

In fact, I have," he replied. "Just recently it appeared here in town, out of thin air. But then...there's this group of troublemakers who live over there." He pointed. "They call themselves the **Ruff Ruffians**. They rode into town, took it, and carried it to their hideout."

"So these Ruff Ruffians took it? It is something I need, so...thank you."

Though they had been given half an hour, Tippi and our heroes felt the urge to return after only a few minutes.

"It's over there!" Mario blurted out, since no one else had said anything. He pointed. "I talked to a few people, and they said it was right here in town. These guys that call themselves the Ruff Ruffians took it. Their hideout is over there."

"That's exactly what I heard!" agreed Tippi.

"Me too!" excalimed Luigi. "So we should go look for these Ruff Ruffians?"

"Well, if their name is any indication, they could be dangerous," explained Peach. "We may have to fight them for the Pure Heart."

"Dangerous?" scoffed Bowser. "There's no such thing as dangerous when I'm around!"

"Why would they want the Pure Heart, anyway?" asked Mario. "Last time I checked, 'Ruff' guys would never associate themselves with heart-themed objects."

"I was thinking about that, too..." said Tippi. "Why would those guys want it in the first place? They thought they could sell it for good money? Or something?"

"If they were going to sell it, wouldn't they have already done it?" asked Peach. "If they brought it back with them, it doesn't seem like they wanted to sell it."

"That's a good point..." Tippi thought for a while. "Well, I can't think of any reason they would want it, other than if they just liked it and wanted to keep it...which doesn't seem likely."

"Whatever the reason, it doesn't really matter," said Bowser. "We'll just find those guys, kick their butts, and get the Pure Heart."

"If we have to fight them, that is," said Peach. "If we can get it from them without getting into a fight, that would be good...but I know, it doesn't sound likely. So we go for their hideout?"

"Right," agreed Tippi. "Let's go."

By now, the sun had shifted into a mid-afternoon position. The heat was even worse than when our heroes had been walking to the town. "It's a long walk," announced Bowser. "Why don't we get some more water?"

"Sounds good," agreed Mario. They did just that.

"OK, are we ready?" asked Tippi once they had reached the edge of town.

"We're ready," assured Mario.

X - X - X - X - X

Our heroes, once more, walked across a stretch of desert, barren except for cacti, tumbleweeds and other small prickly plants, and the occasional lizard. They drank from their water frequently to avoid dehydration. "Come on, where's the place?" complained Bowser. "We should pick up the pace."

"If we go any faster, we're going to die from heat stroke," cautioned Peach. "It's best to take it slow and steady in the desert."

They were quite relieved when the headquarters of the Ruff Ruffians came into view. It looked quite large.

-END OF CHAPTER-


	8. Chapter 2 2: Finding the Ruffians

Chapter 2-2: Finding the Ruffians

As our heroes drew closer to the headquarters of the Ruff Ruffians, the hideout appeared to consist of a central building completely surrounded by a green fence. Eventually, they drew close enough to find that the green fence was actually made of the sharp branches of cacti, wrapped around each other in a way that made them impossible to climb.

"How are we supposed to get over this wall?" asked Tippi. She scanned the cactus wall for any possible way over it, but it appeared to have no openings or anything else that would allow one to get into the central area. "I don't see any way in..."

"Oh, come on!" griped Bowser. "You forget that _I_ can destroy any obstacle!" He released his firey breath on the wall, which soon burned and crumbled. "You better not forget again!"

Our heroes walked into the central area of the hideout. Aside from the central building, there appeared to be nothing here besides a stable. Mario crept up to one of the glassless windows of the building and peeked inside.

"But what _was_ that thing anyway?" asked a man who was undoubtedly one of the Ruff Ruffians.

"Who knows?" replied another. "We just had to trust that guy."

"Speaking of trust..." began yet another. The conversation was about something unrelated to the Pure Heart.  
Mario turned to his fellow heroes. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Yes," replied Peach. "That was probably the Pure Heart they were talking about."

"Who was 'that guy' they were trusting, though?" asked Tippi. "You didn't _see_ the Pure Heart, did you, Mario?"

"Nope."

"Should we ask those guys about it?" suggested Luigi.

"They _are_ called the Ruff Ruffians," pointed out Tippi. "They probably won't let go of it without a fight."

"Well, fight or not, we've got to get the Pure Heart," announced Mario. "Come on, let's find the door." Our heroes walked around the perimeter until they found a door. They opened it, and were met with angry stares.

"HEY!" shouted one of them. "Whaddya want, evildoers?"

"Evildoers?" asked Tippi. "We're just looking for something called a Pure Heart. It's glowing and-"

"THAT'S THEM!" shouted another. "LET'S GET 'EM!" He immediately jumped up and started beating Mario over the head with his fist.

"Mamma Mia! What's this all about?"

"What's going on!" exclaimed Tippi. "Stop fighting Mario!"

"We ain't letting you get the Pure Heart, you weaklings!" shouted a another Ruffian. He started fistfighting with Luigi.

"QUIET, ALL OF YOU!" bellowed Bowser. He expelled a warning blast of fire, and the Ruffians backed away in a corner. "Mommy!" one of them uttered.

"OK, all of you troublemakers," started Bowser. "Give us the Pure Heart, and I won't roast you all."

"Never!" said one of them weakly. "It ain't here, anyway!"

"Then where is it?"

"We're not telling ya! Come out and fight us on horses, and we'll see who'll roast!" All nine of them jumped out the window.

"On horses?" asked Bowser. "This'll be fun! He walked outside where the Ruffians were saddling their horses. "All right, you guys wanna fight? I'll give you a fight!"

**Miniboss: The Ruff Ruffians**

"C'mon! C'mon! I can take you all!" dared Bowser.

"Giddyap!" the Ruffians shouted. Their horses charged at Bowser. He once again blew his trademark ray of fire, but all of the horses jumped the attack. "Whoa. You guys are smarter than I thought. All right, here's where you feel the wrath of Bowser!" He charged toward one of the horses, knocking it and its Ruffian clear out of the headquarters

Are you sure you can take this by yourself?" asked Tippi. _This is animal cruelty!_

"I'm fine!" replied Bowser. "Just leave it to-"

At that moment, one of the horses rammed straight into Bowser, causing him to fall over. "Ow! Fine, you want to play dirty?" He ducked into his shell and spun aroud, knocking out several more Ruffians. Only four remained.

"Jump on 'im, boys!" shouted one who appeared to be the leader. The others ordered their horses to jump, and Bowser was crushed under the weight of four horses.

"We've got to help him," announced Tippi.

Mario walked over to where Bowser was, but before he could do anything, the leader ordered for the assault to be repeated. Mario began slowly pushing Bowser away, and when they attacked, Bowser was narrowly missed.

"Wha?" uttered Bowser. "Why, uh, thanks. Now..." When they charged him again, he performed another shell spin in place, and put the rest of the Ruffians out of commission.

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Bowser. "I knew I could do it! Oh yeah! Go me! Who da man? Who da man?"

X - X - X - X - X

Mario walked over to the leader. "Now tell us where the Pure Heart is."

Never! We must protect it!"

"We've, well, he's defeated you fair and square. Tell us where it is."

"We don't have it!"

"Then _where is it?_"

"Our leader has it. He's over on **Mt. Maim**. If you wanna find it, tough luck! We ain't telling ya!"

"I can kick your butts again!" warned Bowser.

"Um...err...uh...it's the largest mountain over there." He pointed.

"You're not the leader?" asked Mario. "Fine, I'll find this leader of yours. We need that Pure Heart to save the world."

"Oh, shut your mouth with your dang lies! We know you want it for evil!"

"No, we don't. Come on, guys."

X - X - X - X - X

Once more, our heroes walked through the desert, in search of Mt. Maim.

"Why did the Ruff Ruffians think we wanted to use the Pure Heart for evil?" asked Tippi. "Come to think of it, aren't _they_ evil?"

"They're just troublemakers, they're not evil," answered Peach. "But I do wonder. Did someone tell them we were coming?"

"It's possible...we'll just have to press on."

"And _I_ was the one who got us through!" beamed Bowser.

"You were rather violent," complained Mario.

"So what? You're the one who interrogated that guy. _You_ were more of a villain than I was!"

"We had to learn where the Pure Heart was! It's on Mt. Maim!"

"If its name is any indication, it's probably dangerous," remarked Luigi.

As they walked, the landscape begame more rugged and craggy. Just like at the beach, they needed to weave in and out of random rock formations. When they reached a place of flat ground again, they realized they were at the top of a huge cliff. The landscape had changed from a flat, cactus-filled, tumbleweed-ridden desert into a series of large rocky mountains. "This looks like an easy place to get hurt," observed Tippi. "It's no wonder it's called Mt. Maim. He said it was the largest mountain here..."

"It's that one!" exclaimed Luigi. He pointed at the tallest mountain.

"Then let's go there," agreed Tippi.

As they continued walking, they passed through hills and valleys. Just when they were about to reach Mt. Maim, our heroes heard a faint rumbling sound. "What's that rumbling?" asked Tippi.

Luigi looked up, and was instantly terrified. "Look up, everyone!" he shouted.

They all did, and were startled by what they saw.

"ROCKSLIDE!" yelled Bowser.

-END OF CHAPTER-


	9. Chapter 2 3: The Chase

Chapter 2-3: The Chase

_Rockslide! The huge boulders tumbled down the slopes of Mt. Maim, rushing straight toward them with a loud rumbling sound! Was this the end? It was all over for our heroes! Or was it?_

"Every man for himself!" shouted Bowser, running away from the mountain.

Peach, looking quite annoyed, responded "No, I think we should help each other."

"Like me?" asked Luigi, who was about to be flattened by a giant boulder. Mario quickly dive-tackled his brother out of the way, but in doing so, the brothers were unable to move for a few moments. In that time, another large rock came careening down the slope toward them! "Run!" shouted Luigi. They quickly ducked to the side.

"Let's go in front of this mountain," advised Tippi. "We can avoid the rocks there!"

The others carefully followed her until the mountain shielded them from the oncoming rocks. However, they were safe only for a few moments, for after a few moments, the rockslide completely stopped.

Peach began, "Well, it looks like we're s-"

"LOOK OUT!" shouted Mario. Peach narrowly dodged the falling boulder.

"What!" exclaimed Bowser. "There's falling rocks _here_, t-OOF!" Before he could finish, a huge rock landed on top of him.

"I'll get him!" announced Mario. "You guys see if there's any more safe spots. ...And try not to get crushed!" Mario walked over to Bowser and tried to release him from the boulder's crushing weight. "This rock is heavier than _you_, Bowser!"

"Keep your insults to yourself and just get me out of here, got it?"

Mario hadn't even realized he had insulted Bowser, and was about to apologize, when he managed to slide the boulder off. "Uh, thanks, Mario. Now let's get going." They followed the others, eventually reaching a narrow ledge.

"Uh oh!" uttered Luigi. "How are we going to get across this? We'll either be crushed on the ledge or speared on the rocks below! Probably both!"

"Why don't we just go back to where we started?" suggested Tippi. "The rocks aren't falling there anymore."

"Good idea," agreed Mario. Tippi and the heroes went back to the valley and walked toward Mt. Maim. But as soon as they did, rocks began falling again!

"This can't be a natural rockslide!" remarked Mario. "The boulders seem to appear wherever we are!"

"Who is doing this?" wondered Peach.

"Maybe the Ruff Ruffians on Mt. Maim are trying to stop us!" shouted Luigi, almost smashed by a particularly large stone.

"That must be it," agreed Tippi. "But how can we get there?"

"Wait for their rocks to run out!" answered Mario.

The other four looked at Mario like he had a screw loose. "What?"

"I said, wait for their rocks to run out. They can't have an infinite supply of them, can they?"

"Hey, you have a point!" supported Peach.

They continued dodging rocks, but after a while, they grew tired of it. "We've been doing this forever! _Do_ they have an infinite supply?" inquired Luigi. Just as he finished speaking, the rockslide stopped. "Well, I guess not!" he exclaimed cheerfully. He began calmly strolling up the slope, when suddenly he was tripped and flipped over backwards by a sudden assault of millions of small rocks! He flew backward and crashed into Mario, and the two were overrun by the stones. "Yes!" cheered Bowser. "We won't have to worry about THEM anymore!"

Mario and Luigi, with difficulty, managed to stand up in the rockslide. "Oh, darn it!"

"We can't wait this one out!" announced Peach. "There's just too many of them!"

"Then what do we do?" asked Bowser.

Tippi thought. "We've got to make a mad dash over the narrow ledge over there. Once we run, they'll realize we moved, and send boulders down over there, so we've got to be fast!"

The other four looked at Tippi like she had a screw loose. "What?"

"I said...oh, you heard me, right? It's certainly safer than waiting this one out."

"I must admit, she does have a point," agreed Mario. "Let's do it."  
As fast as they could in the raging rockslide, our heroes scrambled over to the other mountain and reached the ledge. Their backs to the wall, they carefully sidestepped as fast as their fear would allow. Soon enough, the rocks began falling, but our heroes were close to where the ledge ended, so they were safe. But just as Peach was about to step off of the ledge and onto firm ground, a stone hit her and she fell, gripping onto the ledge with one hand!

"Peach!" exclaimed Bowser. "My about-to-die-if-I-don't-do-something-fast wife! I'll help you!" He ran over to Peach and gradually pulled her up, watchful of more rocks. When she was safe, the heroes quickly ran around the perimeter of the mountain, toward Mt. Maim, dodging boulders all the way. When they reached the valley in which they had originally walked, they saw that the boulders had stopped, even as they hiked further up Mt. Maim. "They must have run out," said Tippi.

"We may have, but we're still not letting you take it!" came a voice from above them. Our heroes looked up, and saw what appeared to be the leader of the Ruff Ruffians, along with several henchmen, on horses. They were camped on a ledge above them.

"You're the leader of the Ruff Ruffians, aren't you?" demanded Bowser. "I just took out all of your cronies back at your base! You should've SEEN the carnage!" He did a tough-looking pose.

"There goes our chance to recover the Pure Heart through _diplomatic_ means," lamented Tippi.  
"Why not?" asked Mario. "We need that Pure Heart to save all of the worlds!"

"You can't fool us! We were told you guys would come here to steal it and use its power to get rid of us!"

"Get rid of you? We've never even heard of you until we came here looking for it. Who was it that told you?"

"This strange guy. He had a black-and-white mask and purple and yellow clothing, and he gave it to us. Who knows who he is, but he sounded like he knew what he was talking about!"

"Dimentio!" shouted all five of the group simultaneously.

"Dimentio? Do you know that guy? He must be a rival of you guys or something. Anyway, we're not letting you take this!" He displayed the yellow Pure Heart. "We're not using it for evil!" shouted Luigi. "We need it! Now, please hand it over!" He jumped up to the ledge, and the Ruff Ruffian's leader quickly pulled the Pure Heart out of Luigi's reach.

"Still want it? Fine, you'll just have to catch us! Let's flee, y'all!" They sped off on their horses, away from the heroes.

Mario began running after them as fast as he could, but the horses were too fast for him. He huffed back to the others. "What do we do _now_?"

The others thought for a few moments. "Well, since they're heading down the mountain," Tippi began, "they have to travel in a spiral path since the mountain is so rugged and because they're on horses. But since we're on foot, maybe we can wait at a certain section of the mountain and just jump down, and maybe we can catch them."

"Well, I don't know how you intend to 'catch' them," remarked Bowser, "but it sounds like a plan. Let's see what they do." Our heroes observed the Ruff Ruffians, who were indeed traveling in spirals down the mountain. When they neared the bottom, Luigi observed, "This seems like a good time. Let's slide down!"

The other four looked at Luigi like he had a screw loose. "What?"

"Well, how else do you think we're going to get down?"

"It's called Mt. Maim for a reason," noted Mario. "Still, I don't see what choice we have, so...let's go, I guess!"

They jumped down the nearest ledge and started sliding down. Before long, though, the slope abruptly ended, forming a cliff that had several sharp rocks below it!

"Whose bright idea was this?" asked Bowser.

Tippi and Luigi looked at each other.

"Jump over here!" yelled Mario, pointing to a small, flat ledge near them. They jumped with all of their force and managed to land on the ledge. Mario looked down. "There they are!" he pointed. The Ruff Ruffians were just below them. The leader noticed their presence.

"You guys just don't give up, do you?" he demanded. "Fine, then! Let's see you chase us now!" He and his men ducked into a small alcove in the rock, and it took the heroes a few moments to realize they had gone into a tunnel within Mt. Maim. Climbing down, they noticed a hole in the rock, hidden by crags and boulders, that they never would have noticed had the Ruff Ruffians not climbed into it.

"A cave?" asked Peach. "Hopefully it'll be safer in there."

"Yes," agreed Tippi, "with any luck, they'll run into a dead end in there, and we can do what we can to get the Pure Heart from them. Not a very smart move of them, I'd say." Our heroes walked into the cave, unaware of how very wrong Tippi was.

-END OF CHAPTER-


	10. Chapter 2 4: Twisting and Turning

Chapter 2-4: Twisting and Turning

_Descending into the depths of Mt. Maim, our heroes found it increasingly difficult to see. The path ahead of them had many bends and turns, and it was difficult to move at times. "This place is just as dangerous as the mountain above it," reflected Tippi. "Let's hurry and find them. This place makes me nervous..."_

The heroes continued through the winding tunnel. They soon found themselves descending deeper below the surface, but it was not completely dark due to the small lamps hung on the walls.

"Someone's been here before," observed Mario. "Maybe this is their true hideout?"

"Gee, they have a fake everything," noted Luigi. "A fake leader, a fake hideout, a fake...a fake...uh..."

After a few more minutes, the narrow tunnel suddenly widened into a larger room that seemed to have no exits.

"Now where are they?" asked Tippi.

Our heroes stood there, silent for a few moments, when they heard a faint fluttering sound, and...

AIIIEEEEE!" shrieked Peach, nearly in hysterics. Dozens of bats had descended from the cave ceiling and were flying around the heroes. "Get these things away from me!"

"C'mon!" urged Mario. "Let's..." But Peach was too hysterical to answer.

"Stop trying to comfort my wife," ordered Bowser. "I'LL comfort her. You two look for a way out of this place.

"Fine."

Mario and Luigi walked around the room, wary of the bats, trying to find any possible exit. The room seemed to be deserted, and there was no hint of an exit besides the passageway from which they came. "You think we've hit a dead end?" asked Tippi, who had moved toward them.

"We can't have," protested Luigi. "The Ruffians came through here, so there must be some kind of exit. Hmm..." His gaze shifted to what seemed to be an upside-down U shaped crack in the rock on the right wall. "I wonder..." He examined this area closely. The longer he looked at it, the less it seemed like a crack, and the more it seemed like a rock covering a hole in the wall. He tried to pull the "rock" out, but didn't get very far. "Here's the exit!" he announced.

"OK, good," said Bowser. "Excuse me, Peach." With his mighty strength, he pulled the rock out of the hole, revealing a passageway. "They must have covered it up."

"Yes!" uttered Peach, running into the exposed passageway.

The others followed. There were only a few lamps here, making the area much darker. Our heroes walked for a while in this darkness. After a while, Bowser grew bored. "How long is this pass-WHOOAAAAA!" Our heroes suddenly felt themselves being pulled downwards. Apparently, the tunnel abruptly sloped down, and our heroes were sliding down, down, down!

"Let's hope there's not anything dangerous at the bottom!" wished Peach. "Or even worse, more bats! Ugh!"

Unfortunately, after they had slid for some more time, Mario, who was at the front, noticed what seemed to be the slope's end, and blocking it was several large stones. Worse, though, was the intensely sharp rock that was set into the rubble in such a position that it would tear right through the heroes when they reached the bottom.

"It's a sharp rock!" announced Mario. "Duck as low as you can!" The others obeyed, and when they reached the end of the tunnel, they fortunately weren't speared, but Mario was slammed into the rock by the others. Fortunately, his body hit the rock, and he didn't suffer a concussion. "Looks like a job for Bowser!" the Koopa king announced. He slammed into the rock, careful to avoid the sharp one, but nothing happened. "This rock pile must be _thick_ if I can't even bust through it!"

"What can we do?" asked Tippi.

Mario thought for a while, and then got an idea. "Stay here, everyone. I'm going to try something." He flipped into 3D, and noticed a small space between the wall and the rocks on the left side. He flipped sideways (so I guess you could say he was in 2D) and squeezed through the hole to the other side. There was an opening to another room, but in front of that was one of those handy blue switches. He jumped on it, and the rocks disappeared.

"Whenever you see a blue switch, it's good news," reflected Mario as the others joined him and walked into this new room. It had several passageways leading out of it, and no indication of which one was correct.

"Which way should we go?" asked Mario.

"Well, I guess we should just try every path until we find the correct one," suggested Tippi.

They walked down the path closest to them. It ended at a dead end, so they went to the next one. Almost immediately, the passageway became a slope. "We probably shouldn't go down there," advised Tippi. The others, remembering what had happened last time, agreed. The third hole also lead to a dead end. The final passageway ended with another room.

"Is this a dead end too?" asked Luigi, for there was no apparent way out of this room.

"There's got to be some way out," assured Bowser, looking at the walls.

After a while of looking around the room, there appeared to be no way out. "How do we get out of here?" wondered Peach.

Luigi had a sudden thought. "There's no way to go in _this_ room, and the first and third passageways were duds. But we never went down the second passageway, the one with the slope."

"I'm not going down there!" stated Peach. "You know what happened _last_ time."

"But there's no other way. If we don't go down there, we'll be trapped here forever."

The others mulled over what Luigi had said. "Hmm...well, I suppose we could try it," supported Mario.

"Yes," agreed Bowser. "I'll go first this time, 'cause I'm the toughest." So they walked back to the tunnel with the slope, Bowser leading the way, and began sliding. At the bottom of the tunnel, there were no rocks, which was a relief to our heroes. They walked out of the tunnel and into a very large room, well-lit by several lamps.

"I can't believe they made it here!" shouted the leader of the Ruff Ruffians. He and his fellow Ruffians were standing in the center of this room, holding the Pure Heart.

"They're heroes," explained Tippi. "They never fail. And we _need_ that Pure Heart. We'll fight you if we have to."

The leader stepped toward them. "All right, 'heroes'! Who's the leader here?"

Everyone stared at Mario. "Um...I guess I am," he sputtered.

"All right, then. Come here, and face me! I'm just warning you, I'm called the Ruffer Ruffian around here. I'm the roughest of them all, and you wouldn't be very wise to pick a fight with me!

**Miniboss: The Ruffer Ruffian**

"Taste this!" the Ruffer Ruffian challenged. He pulled out a lasso and aimed it at Mario, but Mario, being more agile, dodged the weapon. The Ruffer Ruffian tried once more, and this time he caught Mario off guard. Snagged in the lasso, Mario was whirled around in the air. "Not so much of a hero now, are you?"

"I've worked my way out of situations worse than this," explained Mario. With effort, he slipped out of the rope holding him, and "OOF!" fell five feet to the ground. He immediately got up and did a backflip, in case his enemy was preparing any attacks.

"So you've got some skill," admitted the Ruffer Ruffian. "But can you survive _this_?" He pulled a knife from his pocket and hurled it at Mario, who jumped and dodged the weapon.

"You aren't trying to _kill_ me, are you!"

"If I must do it to prevent you from getting the Pure Heart, so be it!" Apparently, he had several of those with him, as he quickly pulled out two more and aimed them at Mario. He dived to avoid the higher one and then jumped to avoid the lower one. Three more knives came from the Ruffer Ruffian's pocket, all targeted at Mario. He dodged the first two with expert precision, but the third one came straight at his face. Not knowing what else to do, Mario performed the Matrix so that the knife sailed over his head.

"Darn! That was my last knife!"

"Are you giving up now? You really should give us the Pure Heart."

"Never!" He pulled out his lasso once more, twirled it around especially fast, and whipped it in Mario's direction. It hit him squarely across the back.

"YOWCH!" yelped Mario. He stumbled.

"Are _you_ giving up now?" demanded the Ruffer Ruffian.

"I may be in pain, but there's no way I'm giving up!" Mario dodged all of the remaining lasso swipes.

"Grr...you're tougher than I thought, I'll give you that. I guess it's time to pull out the last resort."

"The last resort?"

"The person you call Dimentio gave this to me as a last resort. I'd like you to meet him!" He pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button. Suddenly, the ground began shaking. Before long, a huge, black, unmoving horse emerged from the ground!

"Do you like him? He's the Robo-Horse, the ultimate weapon for us! With this remote, I can control his every move, and make him destroy all of you! Giddyap, mechanical horsie!"

**Boss: Robo-Horse**

"We've got to help Mario," suggested Tippi.

"Good idea," agreed Peach.

The Robo-Horse charged for Mario, who ran out of the way quite easily. It charged again, faster this time, and would have crushed Mario if Bowser hadn't pulled him away at the last second. "I'll take care of this mechanical menace!" Bowser announced. He unleashed his firey breath on it, which didn't harm its metal surface at all. It ran straight for him and sent him flying into the wall. "OOF! Man, that thing must be made of solid metal!"  
"You just figured that out?" asked Peach.

The Robo-Horse than charged for Luigi. He recoiled in fear for a second, then got an idea. Just as it was about to hit him, he jumped up and landed right on top of it. "Hey guys, you should see the view from h-WAAGH!" The horse bucked him, and he landed facefirst on the floor. It was about to charge again, but Bowser ran up to it and clawed its leg.

"Pick on someone your own size!" His attack crippled its mechanical leg.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" announced the Ruffer Ruffian. He pressed another button, and the horse looked straight at Bowser and fired two eye lasers!

"Whoa, so it does do more than just run around," observed Bowser. He ducked into his shell, and the lasers did no harm.

The horse then aimed its eye lasers at Mario. He did some pretty cool action moves and dodged every one.  
"Let's crank it up a notch," stated the Ruffer Ruffian. He pressed yet another button, and one of the horse's metal horseshoes detached and flew through the air like a boomerang. It sailed past Bowser and hit Peach before reattaching itself.

"Peach! Are you OK?" asked Bowser, running toward her. Before he could reach her, the horse summoned two of its horseshoe boomerangs and aimed them straight at Bowser. "Hey! You aren't stopping me from seeing how my lovely wife is doing!" He attacked both of the horseshoes with a mighty punch, sending them flying back at the Robo-Horse. They collided with its midsection, causing a large explosion. "That'll teach you not to mess with the Koopa King!"  
"Bowser, are you talking to a robot?" asked Peach.

"What? Uh...maybe. Why?"

"It looks like it's weakened!" noticed Mario. "Let's get it!" It charged for the Mario Bros., and they repeated the maneuver that Luigi had used to climb onto it. They rushed to the part where the explosion had occured and started tearing apart the wires and all the other mechanical stuff. The horse soon bucked them off, but they had done serious damage.

"I can't climb up there," said Bowser. "Peach, we'll do a duo attack. I'll send you up there, and you deliver the final blow!"

"Me? How are you sending me up there?"

"Like _this_!" Bowser grabbed Peach's arm and sent her flying toward the Robo-Horse. _She'll probably yell at me for this, but I hope I can convince her that I did it out of love! Then maybe she'll want to stay with me!_

"Ugh! I can't believe he'd throw me like that! And he probably thinks he did it out of love, too!" Nevertheless, Peach reached her target and slammed her fist into the damaged area with full force. She dropped down from the horse, which sparked like a 4th of July fireworks show gone haywire. It blew apart with a deafening explosion.

X - X - X - X - X

"NOOO!" shouted the Ruffer Ruffian. "You've defeated my last resort!"

"That's because they're heroes," explained Tippi.

"How could they have? They must have superhuman strength if they could defeat that thing!"

"Well, they're heroes."

The Ruffer Ruffian eyed our heroes curiously. "Are you really heroes?"

"Yes. They are. And they need the Pure Heart to save all worlds."

He looked at the yellow Pure Heart, and then back at the heroes. "Well...if you could defeat that thing, then maybe you really are heroes."

"They are."

He paused for a moment, and then picked the Pure Heart up and walked toward them. "Well, I've decided. You guys certainly were heroes. And I'm not sure if I should've trusted Dimentio anyway. Here, take the Pure Heart."

"Really? You're giving it to us?"

"Yes. Isn't that what you want? It is rightfully yours. Take it, and do what you wish with it."

"Thank you. All right, Mario, take the Pure Heart!" He did just that.

-END OF CHAPTER-


	11. Intermission 2 3

Intermission 2-3

_Dimentio had tricked the Ruff Ruffians into believing that Mario and his friends wanted the Pure Heart for evil...but in the end, they proved they were heroes and recieved the Pure Heart. With three Pure Hearts now in our heroes' possesion, five still remain. There is no time to celebrate. Our heroes must find the other five-and quickly, for who knows what sinister plot Dimentio has planned next?_

"I assume you have done well?"

"Yes, Master Dimentio. Count Bleck believes he is much stronger than before. May he aid you now?"

"Not yet. Continue your training, and I will decide when you are strong enough."

"Yes, Master Dimentio. Did you manage to find any minion candidates?"

"I am afraid not. But I am still searching. Rest assured, I will have a new minion before the heroes find the next Pure Heart. _If_ they manage to find it, that is, for I have already gone to its dimension and made sure it's safe from them."

"Good plan, Master Dimentio."

"Good, but tiresome. Once I find minions, I'll let them do the dirty work. All right, you continue your training. I will attend to some...business."

"Yes, Master Dimentio." Count Bleck flipped out and Dimentio disappeared.

X - X - X - X - X

"I'm in worse shape then I ever coulda imagined. I've wandered for days..."

"'Ey, what's this? No one's home...maybe I oughta see if they 'ave any food or anythin'..."

"Yes, stealin' is wrong, but I'm starvin'!"

"'Ey? What's this? This looks like it'll make me nice and full."

"Whaaa? What's 'appenin'!"

"YOU!"

"'Ey? Me?"

"Yes, YOU! I was just about to use that magical device to create a Pixl, and now you've eaten it!"

"What's gonna 'appen to me now!"

"Well, you're nice and burly, I'll give you that. But that device took years to make, and you've eaten it! Oh, you..."

"No! Don't end me game! Please! I beg ya!"

"Spare him!"

"What?"

"You heard Count Bleck. Spare him!"

"But...but..."

"Spare him, and Count Bleck will spare you!"

"Yikes...now that's an intimidating weapon."

"O'Chunks, I am Count Bleck. How would you like to get a second chance?"

"A second chance? Yeh can give that to me?"

"Yes. Swear complete loyalty to me, and I will make your dreams come true."

"..."

"All right. I'm doin' it!"

X - X - X - X - X

"You seem rather contemplative again, O'Chunks," came Nastasia's voice.

"Yep...I was thinkin' about the day Count Bleck enlisted me. This fella was goin' to use a device to create a Pixl, but I was hungry, an' I ate it...it made me all tough. The man tried to end me game, but the Count came in an' saved me game. That's why I joined 'im."

"Ah ha ha! Who's talking about his secret backstory in public now?"

Count Bleck's three minions whirled around in the direction of the voice. "Not you again," uttered Nastasia.

"Indeed, it is I, Dimentio, the ender of your games!"

"We beat you once, we can beat you again!" said Mimi.

"Oh? Fine then. _See_ if you can stand up to me!"

"We'll take yeh on all at once!" blurted O'Chunks.

"We will?" asked Nastasia.

"Of course! If we work togetha, we can take 'im down! Right?"

The other two were silent for a while, but then Mimi agreed, "Right!"

"Very well. Come and fight me, and we'll see who's the stronger!"

X - X - X - X - X

**Boss: Dimentio**

While Mimi assumed her spider transformation, Dimentio vanished and reappeared with a clone. They flew to opposite sides of Flipside Tower and fired their energy blasts at the minions, which were dodged. O'Chunks ran up to Dimentio and did a ground pound right on his face. He fell right through Dimentio's body and crash-landed on the floor.

"Your foolishness, it is as ample as the population of animals at a small water hole during dry season in the savannah!" cried the other Dimentio. Too absorbed in his excessive description to notice what was happening behind him, he didn't notice Mimi's Rubee coming for him until it was too late. Only slightly injured, he flew high above them, prepared his attack, and fired two energy balls at once. He repeated the attack several times, and both Mimi and O'Chunks were hit. "Not so high and mighty, are you?" the jester taunted. He snapped his fingers, and a glowing square formed around Mimi. Before it could unleash an explosion, Nastasia dive-tackled one of Mimi's legs, causing her to tumble out of the explosion range. She then jumped on top of the box and gave Dimentio a good smack.

"Your feminine ways of fighting aren't going to work against...magic!" He snapped his fingers again, and a bolt of energy leaped out of his hand and struck Nastasia.

"Are yeh OK?" asked O'Chunks, rushing to Nastasia's aid.

While O'Chunks was distracted by Nastasia, Mimi crept near Dimentio, withdrew her legs, and surrounded her head with Rubees. She spun her head through the air to hit Dimentio with the sharp stones.

"You're sneaky, I'll give you that. But I've got more tricks up my sleeve." He hovered slightly away from Mimi and fired an energy ball, pink instead of the usual white. When he fired, Mimi moved away, but the blast bounced off the floor to hit the underside of her head.

O'Chunks, after seeing that Nastasia was fine for the most part, walked up to Dimentio. He performed a strong uppercut that did plenty of damage to the jester.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet!" He created several large glowing boxes that surrounded O'Chunks, but did not enclose him. Knowing that he was blocking all escape routes for O'Chunks, Nastasia once again climbed the boxes and kicked Dimentio in the stomach. Startled, he deactivated the attack.

"Can't you fight better than that?" taunted Dimentio, though the others could tell he had lost a considerable amount of health. He descended to the ground and began firing energy balls in all directions. However, Mimi had attached herself to the ceiling, and she summoned a wave of Rubees that hit Dimentio squarely.

"All right. I assume you want me to pull out the big guns?" Dimentio disappeared, and reappeared with a duplicate again. The two jesters again flew to opposite sides of the tower, and fired two pink energy balls at once, so the minions now had to evade four. Mimi managed to avoid them, but Nastasia and O'Chunks tried to jump over one and were hit when the blast ricocheted off the ground. The Dimentios prepared for another assault, but Mimi, still on the ceiling, walked to the left of Dimentio and fired a Rubee that sailed right through him. Quickly, O'Chunks jumped for the other one and gave him a hearty pound just as he was about to deliver his attack. He staggered, weakened.

"What? I've lost _again_ to _minions_?"

"Your attacks just aren't enough for us," explained Mimi, returning to her normal form.

"I'll be back. And when I do, I'll be so powerful I'll obliterate you all in a second! Farewell, minions...but not for long!" He again vanished.

X - X - X - X - X

Mario and friends came out of the orange door and used the elevator to descend to the second floor of Flipside. They again saw O'Chunks, Mimi, Nastasia, and Merlon.

"Did Dimentio come here again?" asked Tippi.

"He certainly did," explained Nastasia. "But we managed to defeat him again."

"I assume you found the next Pure Heart?" Merlon asked the heroes.

"Yes," said Tippi.

The others noticed how O'Chunks looked withdrawn. "Is something on your mind, O'Chunks?" asked Merlon. "Please tell us what's wrong."

"Well...eh...yeh see..." O'Chunks related the story of how Count Bleck enlisted him. "I was thinkin' about it today, and I thought about how he betrayed me just now."

"I see. Well, never let the burdens of your past trouble you, I say. Look forward to the future."

"I will."

"Now, heroes, go and find the next Heart Pillar, and then continue your quest."

X - X - X - X - X

Mario and the others retraced the path they had taken last time, except instead of flipping a second time, they walked left into a pipe. To the far right of the room they entered, Mario flipped into 3D and flipped sideways again, finding the Heart Pillar. Placing the yellow Pure Heart inside it, the yellow door was created atop Flipside Tower. The heroes walked back to the elevator, rode up, and entered the yellow door to search for the fourth Pure Heart.


	12. Chapter 3 1: Soaked Hair and Wet Socks

Chapter 3-1: Soaked Hair and Wet Socks

On their way to find the fourth Pure Heart, the heroes entered the yellow door. Dimentio's continued assualts made them rather anxious. Would Bleck's minions be able to keep holding him off while our heroes searched for the Pure Hearts? Their quest would gradually become more difficult, as Dimentio and Count Bleck conspired to stop them...

A line was drawn.

More lines appeared, coming in pairs that formed long, twisty tree trunks. Large leaves were drawn on the trees and given a green hue as the trunks became a dull grayish-brown. Water splashed onto the ground, creating large gray puddles. A few large rocks were drawn and colored dark gray. The sky was gray as well. It was completely covered by flat stratus clouds, letting only a small amount of sunlight through the thick blanket. The ground was soaked and covered with tall grass, being a dull green. Finally, drops of rain began falling, soaking the area even more. The yellow door was drawn into existence, and our heroes stepped into this dreary swamp.

"It's pretty wet here," noticed Mario.

Tippi looked around. "This place is sure dreary," she reflected. "I feel depressed already."

"So we'd better find the Pure Heart, and fast," announced Bowser.

"Right," agreed Tippi. "Let's see..." She examined the area. "I feel the Pure Heart in this dimension...but it's very far away..."

"So we have to _travel_ through this place?" complained Luigi.

"Yes."

"In the pouring rain?"

"Yes."

"In this soggy ground?"

"Yes."

"With this dreary overcast cloud cover?"

"Would you prefer the destruction of all worlds?"

"We've gotta find the Pure Heart and FAST!" Luigi ran as fast as he could in the soggy grass.

Tippi sighed. "Well, let's follow."

Our heroes walked through the pouring rain, the water from the soggy ground seeping into their shoes and making their socks wet. Bowser was a bit more comfortable, since he didn't wear shoes, but the water still made his feet feel cold. The only consolation was that the thick trees blocked most of the rain, preventing the heroes from getting any wetter than they already were. Even so, the water from above was occasionially too heavy for the trees above, and it cascaded down, causing our heroes to be drenched even more.

"I sure hope this rain stops soon," complained Peach. Her hair had been soaked, making her look quite different from usual.

"Well, it doesn't look like it," observed Mario. "The sky is covered in clouds from horizon to horizon."

"I'm not going to walk like this until we find the Pure Heart!" declared Luigi. "We'd better pray that we don't have to go through any waterfalls or rockslides or whatever, 'cause _this_ is quite enough."

"Well, look on the bright side," said Bowser. "At least, if it's nothing like this until the Pure Heart, we won't have to go through any obstacles or fight some sea monster or robot horse or anything."

"Knowing Dimentio, though, he's probably already came here and protected it from us. Sigh..."

They continued walking like this for a while, and the rain showed no signs of stopping. Eventually, the sky grew darker, indicating that night was coming. Our heroes heard a loud thunder crash.

"We've got to stop somewhere for the night," advised Tippi.

"Where can we rest?" asked Luigi. "We'll never fall asleep with rain and thunder."

"Let's look for some kind of shelter." They kept walking, passing some large rocks. Finally, they found the perfect shelter; in a small space, just big enough for all of them, underneath one of the larger rocks.

"Let's stop here for the night," suggested Bowser. The others agreed. They crept into the small dry space, where they slept.

X - X - X - X - X

In the morning, the rain was still there, but it was only a drizzle, much to the delight of our heroes. They walked out into the open again and continued walking in the same direction. After a while, they stopped for some reason.

"Why'd we stop?" asked Tippi. Then they realized that they had been stopped by a huge hill, which they hadn't even noticed due to the thick trees. The hill was drenched and muddy from the previous day's downpour.

"My feet are stuck!" complained Bowser, whose feet were stuck in the mud. He managed to pull himself out after a few seconds.

"Watch out," warned Tippi. "The mud's flowing!"

And so it was. Slowly but surely, the mud crept toward our heroes. It was slow at first, but then it picked up speed.

"We've got to get out of here before there's a mudslide!" yelled Luigi. He ran to the side. The others followed, only to discover that the mud flow continued over in this direction since the hill was so large. It continued picking up speed until it was a full mudslide.

"Waah!" exclaimed Mario, desperately trying to avoid the rushing mud.

"First a rockslide and now a mudslide?" complained Luigi.

"AIIEE! HELP!" shouted Peach, who had been knocked over and was struggling in the mud.

"I'll get her!" announced Mario.

"No, _I'll_ get her!" countered Bowser. He began rushing toward her faster than Mario could keep up.

"Fine," admitted Mario. He followed Luigi, trying to find where the hill ended.

"I think the mudslide ends over here," pointed Luigi. Mario followed him around the hill, only to be pushed in a different direction by the mud. "We can't just leave Peach and Bowser behind," said Mario.

"It's fine, we're coming," announced Bowser, who was a few yards behind them, with Peach.

"If we can get to the other side of the hill, we'll be safe," described Tippi. "At least, I think so..."

The mudslide was picking up in speed, and soon it was difficult just to stand up. "How are we going to make it?" asked Peach. "I can barely stand up!"

"Let's climb these trees," suggested Mario, doing just that. "We'll be safe, at least for a while."

The others tried doing that. However, Bowser's tree fell over. "Hey, Einstein, can you think of something _I_ can do?"

"Well, you're big and strong, right? You can probably just push your way through."

"Whatever."

Mario and the others grabbed another tree and worked their way over to the other side of the hill. When they dropped down, Bowser joined them. They were still being pushed by the mudslide, but they were being pushed in the direction they wanted to go. Eventually, the mudslide stopped altogether.

"Now that was a close call," reflected Mario.

Our heroes continued through the environment. "The Pure Heart is closer," annoucned Tippi. "But it's still a long way from here..."

"Oh, just great," grumbled Luigi. He faced the others. "We're just going to be walking through this depressing place until we find the Pure Heart! I just know-OW!" He had walked right into a large rock with a huge drop after it where the landscape lost its trees and rocks.

Suddenly, our heroes heard gunshots and cannons in the distance.

-END OF CHAPTER-


	13. Chapter 3 2: War!

**(A/N): It's been a while since the last chapter. My friend has been really busy. But anyways, enjoy! :)**

It's been a while, but here's a new chapter. And, like before...comments please!

Gunshots and cannons! Next to our heroes, there lie a ridge of rock. As they looked over it to the other side, they could see that there existed a huge drop after the ridge, and no trees or rocks existed in the below area. To get across, they had to be careful, for one wrong move would send them tumbling down the steep slope. Looking across the plain, they observed two huge armies in the midst of an intense battle. What was happening here?

Chapter 3-2: War!

Whoa!" exclaimed Peach as they made their way down the slope. "It looks like a war's going on!"

"You're right!" agreed Bowser, observing the armies.

"Is this the work of Dimentio again?" wondered Mario, suspicious.

Eventually, they reached a safe vantage point where the ground leveled out from which they could watch the fight. One of the armies seemed to be winning, the other being forced to gradually retreat. Some time into the fight, several glowing bombs were suddenly launched from a cannon on the winning side, being thrown out in random directions. One of them was expelled straight in the direction of our heroes!

"Run!" shouted Tippi. They quickly ran out of the way before the bomb hit them. It soon touched down where our heroes were formerly standing, producing a huge explosion.

"This place isn't safe!" worried Luigi. "We've got to hide somewhere!"

Further validating Luigi, another cannon on the winning side fired hundreds of Bob-ombs into the air. They rained down, decimating the other army. A few flew right at our heroes, putting them in danger again.

"But where can we hide?" asked Mario as he dodged the raining Bob-ombs. They caused several explosions, rendering the area lifeless.

Our heroes explored along the slope. "There must be a cave or something where we can hide!" said Bowser. They continued running in the direction of the winning army, but found nothing.

"Isn't there any c-" started Mario, as his left foot suddenly dropped through the grass. "Hey guys, I found something!"

It was indeed the entrance to a cave, hidden by the grass. "I'm not going in another hidden cave entrance!" stated Peach.

"It's the only way to keep safe!" replied Luigi, ducking into the hole. The others soon followed.

The cave was larger than our heroes had initially thought. It was quite narrow at the entrance, but it soon formed a short tunnel. At the far end, there rested a strange creature. It was essentially spherical, a medium shade of green, and had squarish black feet. It wore a blue, dome-like hat, from under which were light green, wide needle-like things, and our heroes couldn't tell if it was hair or leaves. It held a gun in its right hand.

"Let's hightail it out of here!" whispered Peach.

"Wait," said the creature. "Can you help us?"

Our heroes turned back to face it. "Who are you?" asked Tippi.

"I'm one of those soldiers who're fighting out there. I came in here to hide."

"You're hiding?" asked Mario.

"Yes. I don't want to be any part of this war. I doubt that heart thing was powerful in the first place."

Our heroes instantly paid full attention. "A heart thing?" asked Tippi.

"Yes. This strange guy seemed to come out of nowhere and told the X Faction to guard it. He said it was powerful."

"What? The X Faction?"

"Yes. We're called the Bluecaps because of our hats, and we've been longtime rivals with the X Faction. Just recently, the Bluecaps went into war with the X Faction to claim that heart thing, and we're losing horribly. I wanted nothing to do with the battle, so I hid here. War just isn't my thing."

"If that heart is what I think it is, then Dimentio is at work again."

"Dimentio?"

"There's eight of those Pure Hearts, and we need to find them all to stop Dimentio. The reason he gave it to the X Faction was probably for them to guard it so that we couldn't get to it."

"You need to get it?"

"Yes. Believe it or not, the people behind me are heroes of prophecy...and they need the Pure Heart to save the world."

"Really? In that case, my name is Tedac, and I'd be glad to help you however I can. Which...um...I'm afraid...isn't very much."

"Well, the people behind me are Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser," she explained, pointing them out. "There must be some way you can help. Do you know of any way we could infiltrate the X Faction's territory and find the Pure Heart?"

"Wha...what? You think you can just march up to them and take it? They'll annihilate you!"

"There must be _some_ way to get it without getting killed. Sneaking into their territory at night, perhaps?"

"You don't get it! Anyone who steps in the territory the X Faction calls their own is wiped out! Gone forever! Game Over!"

"I know it seems impossible...and this X Faction seems very powerful...but these are the heroes of legend. I don't have time to explain it all, but a prophetic book called the Light Prognosticus seems to imply that they will survive to find all of the Pure Hearts. You must help us in any way you can..."

"You're serious? Well...if it was foretold in a prophecy, I guess there's a _chance_ you guys can survive it. I'll see what I can do. Let's get back outside and see if we've been completely annihilated yet."

Our heroes plus Tedac peeked out of the cave, and indeed, the battle had ended. The Bluecap army was retreating, likely going back to their base. The X Faction returned to their territory, victorious. "We've lost, all right," lamented Tedac. "You should come to our base. If you're going at night like you said, you can rest for the rest of the day and plan the attack."

Tippi considered telling him they needed to go now, like she had with Chip Ahoy, but a powerful army like the X Faction seemed more dangerous than a turbulent sea.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea," she agreed.

"OK. Our base is over in this direction," he pointed. The heroes followed Tedac across the vast stretch of grass, toward the Bluecaps' base. Eventually, they reached a place in the landscape that contained a decent amount of trees, forming a loose forest. Several tents were pitched here that apparently housed soldiers. "So this is your base?" asked Peach.

"Yes. We've retreated here after the battle." Tedac led our heroes toward a large orange tent. "Here's the tent I share with a couple of buddies. There's plenty of room in here, so you can rest here and come up with some sort of plan."

"Hey, who're these guys?" asked a soldier who looked similar to Tedac, but was a bit wider.

Tedac pointed to each hero. "They're Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Tippi," he explained, pointing to them in sequence. "They may not look like it, but they're heroes of prophecy."

Bowser had to hold himself back from roasting Tedac on the spot.

Tedac explained the situation to his buddies, including how Dimentio had told the X Faction to guard the Pure Heart. "So they're going to rest here for a while as they plan their attack."

"Really?" asked the same soldier who had asked who our heroes were. "Wow. In that case, I'd like to help." Tedac and the others assisted our heroes, and with the help of information from the soldiers, they devised their plan while the sun sank.

When the sun was well below the horizon, the plan was finished. Tippi reviewed the facts. "OK. At midnight, we'll use the sparse trees as rest stops while we cross into the X Faction's territory. On the side area, where no guards are posted, we'll dig under the barbed wire and emerge next to their fortress. We'll use the tanks as places to hide behind to avoid any watchmen. We'll then infiltrate their fortress, and the soldiers will distract the X Faction's soldiers while we search for the Pure Heart."

"Sounds like a solid plan to me," assured a soldier. He pretended to ready his weapon. "I'm not afraid!"

"As solid as it is," started Luigi, "I'm not sure it's such a good plan if the soldier's games are put in danger..."

"Don't worry," explained Tedac. "They have a vast advantage in war, but from what we've heard, the X Faction has rather poorly trained guards. We should be able to distract them while you guys search for the Pure Heart. Besides, even if some of our games end, it'll be for the good of all worlds, right?"

"Right!" the other soldiers repeated.

_These guys are true soldiers,_ realized Mario. _They're willing to sacrifice themselves in order for us to safely get the Pure Heart._  
"Well, in that case, we're ready to go," stated Tippi. "It'll be midnight in about half an hour, so that's when we make our move. Are you ready, heroes?"

"We're ready!"

-END OF CHAPTER-


	14. Chapter 3 3: Guns and Roses

Chapter 3-3: Guns and Roses

Our heroes and the soldiers crept across the plain, using the trees as rest stops like they planned. They slowly came ever closer to the territory of the X Faction. "I'm nervous..." admitted Peach.

"We'll make it through," stated Tedac. "You guys need the Pure Heart. We're just here to make sure it happens."

Tedac sounded confident, but in the darkness, it was easy to think about what would happen if they were caught. Would they truly make sure it happened?

Soon, the group could make out the barbed wire that surrounded the area. "Here's where we come in," stated Tedac. "Digging under here is the only way to cross the border."

Tedac and the soldiers worked in the darkness. In the distance, our heroes could make out the faint outline of several tanks. "This place looks more dangerous than I thought," reflected Mario.

"When we get in there, we'd _better _not get caught."

"I'll say," agreed Bowser.

Soon, the soldiers had formed a small tunnel leading under the barrier. They emerged on the other side. "We're finished!" they announced triumphantly.

"All right," congratulated Luigi. Our heroes dove through the tunnel and emerged in the X Faction's grounds.

We have to be as silent as we can," warned Tedac. "Their headquarters is over there. We'll have to be extra-careful if we don't want to be caught."

The group continued toward the fortress in absolute silence. Occasionally, they observed a watchman on guard duty, but they were able to avoid them by hiding behind the ready-for-battle tanks.

"O'Chunks would probably be right at home here," whispered Bowser when no watchmen were in sight.

"Yeah," agreed Luigi, also whispering. "We should have offered for him to join us. He would've been a good ally."

"Let's do that when we return to Flipside," suggested Tippi.

"Sounds like a good idea."

The route along the tanks continued for a while. "How long until we reach the fortress?" asked Mario, getting bored.

"It's getting closer," assured Tedac.

After emerging from behind a tank, the group was suddenly blinded by a brilliant ray of light.

They covered their eyes as they heard a "Intruders in the middle north area!"

Suddenly, airplanes began appearing the sky. Dozens of X Faction soldiers evacuated the plains and rushed for our heroes, weapons ready.

"They found us!" shrieked Peach.

"Hurry!" exclaimed Tedac. "Let's try and get to the fortress!"

The group ran along the placed tanks, evading the soldiers. The fortress drew closer, but our heroes couldn't hide from the soldiers forever. One of them suddenly ran in front of the group. "HALT!" he shouted, pointing a pistol at them. They promptly halted. The X Faction soldier looked similar to the Bluecap soldiers, but was a bit more on the brownish side, and wore a black hat. "Stay right where you are!"

One of the Bluecap soldiers pulled out his pistol. "Go ahead and fire, big lug! It'll come right back to you!"

The X Faction soldier fired, but the Bluecap soldier swerved out of the way and fired at the enemy. While the X Faction soldier was distracted, our heroes and the rest of the soldiers crept around the nearby tank and continued their pursuit of the fortress. The Bluecap soldier caught up with them eventually. "We ran out of ammo, so he couldn't do nothin'!" he bragged.

This continued for a while. Unfortunately, another X Faction soldier leaped in front of the heroes, and he had reinforcements. "Seize them!" he commanded. His reinforcements pointed guns at the heroes once again.

More Bluecap soldiers readied their weapons. "Stay away!" they warned.

"Shut up, nerds!" shouted an X Faction soldier. "It's _those _guys we want!"

"Us?" squeaked Peach.

"Yes, you!"

One of the Bluecap soldiers fired, and a gunfight instantly broke out. Luckily, this provided another distraction for our heroes to take advantage of. When the Bluecaps returned, one was gone. "We lost him," lamented Tedac.

Suddenly, a pistol appeared right in front of Mario's face. He froze.

"Nobody move, or I pull the trigger!" the soldier shouted. No one moved. After a few seconds, a helicopter descended next to them. At gunpoint, the soldier led our heroes and the Bluecaps into the helicopter and confiscated their weapons.

"We're going to the headquarters," explained the X Faction soldier. "You'll all have the _pleasure_ of being the first non-X Faction members to be the victim of our leader's new device."

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Bowser.

"You'll see. After a cozy stay in the prison, that is."

The helicopter flew toward the headquarters and landed at the entrance. Using his gun again, the soldier, with assistance from others, led our heroes into the building. Being forced to march, none of the group could observe the interior of the fortress for very long, but it was mainly greenish-gray, with brick walls. They passed through several doors, and finally down a winding staircase to emerge in a dank dungeon, where they were forced into a prison cell and chained to the wall by their hands.

You'll all stay here until we're ready. Until then, enjoy your stay." He snickered and exited the dungeon.  
After he left, Luigi spoke up. "Just great. How do we get out of this one?" He eyed Tippi jealously. The soldiers hadn't even noticed her, and having no limbs, she couldn't be chained up.

Mario tried to slip his hands out of the chains, but they stuck. "I can't get out!"

"Are any of you carrying something?" asked Tedac.

"Nope, but let me try something," stated Bowser. He unleashed a small amount of fire on the chain that held his left hand, but all it did was make the chain very, very hot, and his hand was slightly burned. "OW!"

"What can we do?" worried Peach.

Mario had a sudden thought. "Wait a second..." He flipped into 3D, and the chains couldn't come with him into the new dimension. He walked away from his original position, flipped back into 2D, and moved his arms about.

"Great," congratulated Bowser. "Now just figure out how to get _us_ out."

Mario couldn't come up with any way to free the others from their chains. The chains were almost too small for our heroes' arms, and there was no way they could succeed by pulling their hands out.

"Come on!" encouraged Tippi. "There must be some way!"

Just then, Mario experienced another sudden idea. "Oh! I've got it!"

"Then do it!" urged Bowser.

"When I was traveling on Mt. Lineland, I rescued a person named Red from the third dimension by flipping into 2D while he was next to me. I can probably do the same thing here!" He walked to Luigi. "Hold my hand, and I'll flip you into 3D."

"Got it, bro!" Mario and Luigi grabbed each other's hand, and Mario flipped into 3D, taking Luigi with him. The Super Mario Bros. flipped back into 2D, free of the chains.

"Now get _me _out of here!" ordered Bowser. Mario did just that, and then walked to Peach and freed her as well. He repeated the process with Tedac and the other soldiers.

"Now let's get out of here!" encouraged Mario. He walked away from where our heroes had been chained, and smacked face-first into the steel bars.

"Oh, that's right." He flipped sideways and exited the cell, then flipped back and pressed the button outside the cell, releasing the prisoners.

"Thank you, Mario!" thanked Tippi, although she hadn't even been imprisoned.

"So where's the Pure Heart?" asked Bowser.

"It's somewhere close to here..." she observed. She tried to sense exactly where it was. "It seems like it's far above us," she explained. "It's probably on one of the upper floors of the headquarters."

"How are we going to even get there?" asked Luigi. "Once they notice we escaped from the cell, things won't be very pleasant."

"That's a problem..." stated Mario. "Well, I didn't see many soldiers in the halls. They must either have rooms they're in most of the time or they don't work here often. It _might_ be safe to escape here."

"What if we're caught?" asked a soldier.

Tedac looked at the critic. "If we don't follow his plan, we'll just have to stay here forever. It's the only way out!"

"Right!"

"So let's get out of here," said Luigi. They walked up the stairs, out of the dungeon, and through a rather dark hallway. They tried to retrace their path from the main room so that they could find an entrance to the above floors. Eventually, they found themselves back in the more well-lit main room.

"We've got to be careful," warned Tippi. "The Pure Heart should be somewhere up those stairs."

-END OF CHAPTER-


	15. Chapter 3 4: Attack of the Sandwich

Chapter 3-4: Attack of the Sandwich

Having escaped into the main lobby, our heroes could ascend the stairs and begin their search for the Pure Heart above. The area they were in was considerably brighter and more well-lit than the dungeon from which they had emerged. "We've got to search the upper floors for the Pure Heart," annoucned Tippi. "Let's use the elevator up there." They climbed the stairs and entered the elevator. The headqarters had eight floors, as demonstrated by the buttons.

"Which floor should we try?" asked Peach.

"Well, it's probably near the top," explained Mario, "but it might be on a lower floor. Let's go with Floor 5 to be safe." They took the elevator up to the fifth floor. What awaited our heroes and the soldiers in this giant fortress?

When the mechanical doors opened, the group emerged in a hallway similar to the one below.

"I sense the Pure Heart here..." stated Tippi. "But it's probably still above us, and it's in a different area of the headquarters..."

"Let's go back and go with the seventh floor this time," suggested a soldier. They followed the soldier's advice, and on the seventh floor, Tippi spoke again. "I sense it more stongly here...it's probably on the top floor."

"Well, no harm in searching, right?" proclaimed Tedac.

"Well, I guess."

The group carefully crept down the hallways. The area was almost silent, and their footsteps echoed throughout the hallways. "I don't feel safe here," reported Luigi.

"Where is everyone, anyway?" asked Mario. He noticed several doors along the hallway.

"Those must be the offices of X Faction workers," mused Tippi. "They're probably all out for the night."

"Oh, yeah. Why didn't I think of that? Good thing we came at night."

Our heroes tried opening some of the doors, but they were all locked. "What if the Pure Heart is in one of these doors?" asked Tedac. "We'd have to break down the door or something, and I'm sure that would set off some sort of alarm."

Bowser gave Tedac a glare.

"I don't think it's over here..." said Tippi. "It's probably on the top floor. Do you think we should go there?"

"Yeah, it's probably on the eighth level," agreed Bowser. "You know these evil fortresses. The thing you want is always on the top floor."

"Like in _your_evil fortresses?" teased Mario.

Now it was Mario's turn to recieve a glare from Bowser. "Whatever! Now let's get to the elevator." _Gee, I almost forgot that they're my enemies! I've got to stop hanging around with Mario after this adventure!_

When they reached the elevator, Mario hit the button for the eighth floor, and up they went. When they emerged, Tippi sensed an almost overwhelming amount of the Pure Heart's energy.

"The Pure Heart is on this floor!" she exclaimed. "I just know it! I feel it more strongly than ever!"

"Then let's get looking!" commanded Bowser.

The group walked out onto the top level and looked around. There wasn't much difference between this floor and any of the others. "Let's just follow Tippi," suggested Tedac.

Tippi wandered the hallways, following the Pure Heart's energy. "It's stronger...stronger...stronger..." Suddenly, the energy from the Pure Heart weakened. "What? I feel it less strongly. I must have passed it..."

"It's probably in one of these rooms, then," reasoned Peach.

"But they're locked," protested Mario.

"We might as well try to open them. If it'll get us the Pure Heart, we'll just have to try."

Mario walked to each of the nearby doors, Tippi following him along the way, but not one of them budged. "It's strange..." Tippi reflected. "I feel it most strongly...right here!" She was hovering in a location between doors.

Luigi had a sudden thought. "Tippi, try going near the ceiling!"

Tippi obeyed. "Ther Pure Heart's energy is even stronger here! But...isn't this the top floor...?"  
"The Pure Heart is probably on a secret upper floor, or perhaps even the roof. You know these evil fortresses!"

"That's probably so...but in order to get there, we'll have to find some passageway to that area, since it wasn't on the elevator..."

"Let's look for one," agreed Tedac.

They wandered the eighth floor in search of anything that might take them above. Eventually, they discovered a silver, steel-plated door, looking quite unlike the others. "You think this is it?" asked a soldier.

"Suspicious-looking doors are always the way you should take," proclaimed Mario. "Let's go!" He tried opening the door, but as usual, it didn't move.

"This is where I come in!" announced Bowser. He gathered strength and charged at the door. A loud crash occured, but not much else.

"Uh oh..." uttered Peach. "We shouldn't make too much noise. If we do, we might set off something."

"Then I'll make it fast." Bowser repeated the maneuver, and the weakened door collapsed with another loud crash. The group advanced into the new room. It was much darker than the standard hallways, made of gray bricks rather than the green-tinted walls of the main area, and only a few lights were placed.

"Is this the route to the space above us?" asked a soldier. "It seems like a secret passageway, like, for 'authorized personnel only'."

"Since the above floor wasn't on the elevator," began Tedac, "this 'secret passageway' probably leads to it. Use your head!"

"Do you guys even _have _heads?" asked Bowser.

A few yards in front of them, a bubbling pit of lava existed, with small, moving platforms placed across it. "This is my area of expertise," bragged Mario.

"And mine," countered Luigi.

The group set off across the lava, jumping across the conveniently placed platforms. When they reached the other side, a large chamber appeared before them. Attached to the floor and ceiling were spiked pillars. "The X Faction _really_doesn't want us to get the Pure Heart," reflected Mario.

"How do we get past it?" wondered Tedac.

"Maybe," began Peach, "if we jump through it, the spikes will start falling after us, and we'll be safe."

"I'll try this," announced a soldier.

"Wait! Maybe that's not really the way to get past."

"I scoff at danger. I would've done this even you haven't said that. My mission is just to make sure things are safe!" He jumped through the spiked chamber and landed on the other side.

"See? No harm-" He slipped off a ledge and tumbled headfirst into another pool of lava.

"Ugh," muttered Tedac. "Well, we've only lost two soldiers so far, and soldiers don't have time to mourn. We still have me and four others."

"Maybe there's something around here that can deactivate the trap." Mario flipped into 3D, and indeed, there was a switch that, when Mario jumped on it, caused the spikes to disappear. The group walked past the chamber, and onto a narrow ledge before more lava. There weren't any platforms over this one.

"What do we do now?" asked Luigi.

"Hmm. Well, if you're in trouble, flip!" Mario flipped again, but saw nothing that would benefit them. He reverted back to 2D.

"There's nothing?" asked a soldier.

Tippi felt a strange sensation. "There's something in this area..." she observed. Suddenly, a platform spanning the width of the lava appeared.

"What happened?" wondered Tedac, dumbfounded.

Mario realized that the soldiers didn't know anything about Tippi. "That's one of her powers," he explained.

"Oh." Tedac didn't pursue the issue further. He was used to just taking things as they came.

Our heroes walked over the dangerous lava, and as they could see, they were nearing the end of the hallway. At the very end rested another elevator. "This probably takes us to the top floor," noted Peach.

They stepped inside, and the only floors availible were the one they were currently on and one that read "TOP". Mario hit the "TOP" button, and the elevator creaked to life, carrying them to whatever lie above. When the doors opened, the group found themselves in a large green-and-blue hallway that was brightly lit. However, the most distinguishing feature of the room was the giant dark green object at the other end.

"So you've arrived!" echoed one of the creepiest voices our heroes had ever heard. Our heroes' attention focused on the strange object, and what appeared to the X Faction's leader was standing atop it, surrounded by about a dozen soldiers. The leader wore a greenish-yellow hat with points around the edges, and he was somewhat larger and darker than the soldiers. He had a very superior look on his face, coupled with a grin that revealed sharp yellow teeth. "To be honest, I never thought you'd make it here, _especially_ not those nerdy soldiers! Dimentio was correct when he said you guys could get through anything."

"Well, we're here, all right!" declared Tippi. "And we want the Pure Heart, you ugly thing!"

"What an arrogant geek," expelled the leader. "I am Radnamok X, leader and commander of all within the X Faction, and _current guardian of the Pure Heart!_" He exaggerated "current guardian of the Pure Heart", adjusting his tone to sound like he was talking to a three-year-old.

"We need that Pure Heart!" announced Tippi, ignoring the insult.

"Oh really? Your friend Dimentio told me all about his plans. I didn't need to be fooled into thinking you guys wanted it for evil. Once The Void encompasses all, he will give me a position of power over a perfect new world!"

"He's lying! He's not really going to give you power. He's making that up so that you'll keep it from us!"

"_Oh really_? Well, all of my _loyal_ soldiers plus the Headquarter Sandwich will _guarantee_that we'll keep it from you!"

"...Headquarter Sandwich?"

You mean you haven't noticed _this_baby? You need some glasses to go along with your geeky attitude!"

"..."

"The Headquarter Sandwich was a gift from Dimentio. It runs on Pure Heart energy, which the machine converts into energy. But the Pure Heart's power wasn't enough for me. That's where the Headquarter Sandwich comes in."

"I can see why! The power of love won't run your evil contraption!"

"Shut up, nerd! Anyway, I took one of Dimentio's ideas and made it my own. The Headquarter Sandwich _squeezes_ my _loyal_X Faction soldiers that I chose and sucks all of their juices out, which it uses to power itself as the ultimate battle creation!"

"Wha...what! You use their internal fluids to power your vehicle! I've never heard of anything so disgusting and wrong! How can they possibly agree to serve you! And what do you mean, this idea came from Dimentio?"

"You're _that _much of an idiot, aren't you? Their loyalty is another gift from Dimentio! They're mindless slaves, always ready to serve me and my whims." He ignored the part about Dimentio's idea.

Tippi gagged.

Mario decided it was time to speak. "So based on what a soldier told us, you plan to use us as well?"

"Exactly! You must be a nerd too, 'cause you figured _that_ one out real fast. In fact, I plan to use all of the Bluecaps this way! _Perhaps_I'll have mercy on the X Faction then."

Tippi decided to speak again. "Why do you hate the Bluecaps so much, anyway?"

Radnamok X looked as if he'd been told the most hilarious joke he'd ever heard. "HA! HA! DUH! Why _wouldn't_I use the Bluecaps? They're a bunch of wimps and nerds! Everyone knows they're inferior!"

"Who on earth _raised_ you? It's totally wrong to treat people like this! How do you even know?"

"BECAUSE! They totally don't _fit in_! They're all so _concerned_ about each other! And they're always by themselves, doing pointless things and using pointless talents nobody cares about.

They're all a bunch of self-indulgent geeks that deserve to be enslaved. If you have a talent, use it for yourself before it's too late, instead of trying to _help the world_with it. And I'm already helping their world by wiping them out!"

Tedac and the Bluecap soldiers shifted uncomfortably.

"You evil, sick, twisted creature!" accused Tippi. "It's wrong to judge people by how they act or what they do. And thinking you can get away with using them as power sources is another thing entirely! Now give us the Pure Heart, or I'll...I'll..."

"HA! You have nothing you could use to make me give you the Pure Heart. Just typical of the Bluecaps, and since you're allied with them, I suppose you've _become_one as well! All right, if you won't agree to have your wimpy selves pulverized by the Headquarter Sandwich, I'll just do it myself!" He pressed a button on the giant device, and it began a robotic transformation. Large black wheels extended from its base, making it mobile. All sorts of hatches and levers opened along the sides, revealing many kinds of painful weapons.

Tippi noticed something in the machine's center. "Look!" she exclaimed. The heroes and soldiers looked, and the green Pure Heart was dimly visible among the dense machinery.

As the Headquarter Sandwich completed its transformation, Radnamok X snickered. "Prepare to be sandwiched, geeks!"

BOSS  
Radnamok X and the Headquarter Sandwich

The machine moved forward, and a large gun targeted Mario. He jumped over the group of bullets.

"So you can dodge, huh?" Radnamok X taunted. He extended two giant spiked balls on chains from the vehicle, which rotated around it, aiming to smash Mario. They didn't. The spike balls withdrew, and two parts on the machine began glowing. They simultaneously fired lasers that homed in on Mario. However, Mario was a dodging pro. He went for the Sandwich, performed a mighty jump, and nailed Radnamok X in the head.

"HA! Do you think your geeky attacks will work against me?" He hadn't been damaged at all due to the hat he wore.

"We should go for the Sandwich," suggested Luigi.

"Then leave this to me!" Bowser walked up to the tank and unleashed his fire. The machine, apparently having taken damage, began sparking.

"You pest! Take this!" Radnamok X pushed a button, and a wall of steel suddenly appeared and slammed Bowser into the other heroes. "HA! Nerds!"

"We'll take this overgrown salami sandwich!" declared Tedac. He and the rest of the Bluecap soldiers jumped into action and fired their pistols, damaging the machine further.

"You wimps think you can take the Headquarter Sandwich?" The vehicle began rapid-firing spiky projectiles. One of them managed to hit a soldier, knocking him back.

"GAAHH!" He collapsed in pain.

Seeing the opportunity, Radnamok X fired two lasers at the soldiers, forcing them to retreat. One of the lasers hit the soldier who had been hit by the projectile, sending him across the room, through a window, and down to the ground below.

"HA! HA! You guys are even weaker than I thought!"

Luigi could stand the insults no more. He charged for the Sandwich, and Radnamok X prepared to fire a volley of bullets. At the last second, Luigi leaped into the air, did a heroic backflip, and drove his foot through the portion that had taken damage earlier, wrecking a considerable amount of the machinery. Just then, the machine fired a laser at Luigi, sending him flying back into the wall. "Ow..."

Radnamok X tried a new tactic. He pulled out a whistle, blew it, and three X Faction soldiers dropped from the ceiling. Turning themselves upside-down, they used their hats as spinning devices, rocketing around the floor and hitting the soldiers and heroes with their sharp hair-leaf things. After a while, they quickly jumped back upright and flipped out.

"HA! HA!" the leader laughed. "You're all down now!"

Tippi, noticing what had happened, reassured the group. "Come on! You may be injured, but you have to fight! We can't let a creep like him keep the Pure Heart!"

Bowser got up. "Well, she's right. Come on!"

"I'll do it," agreed Mario. The two rivals walked up to the Sandwich.

"Still not giving up, eh?" taunted Radnamok X. He again extended the two spiked balls, rotating them much more rapidly this time.

Bowser whispered to Mario. "Aim for the machinery!" He picked Mario up and threw him toward the vehicle. The hero hit his target sqarely, further damaging the machine.

"Now's our chance, soldiers!" announced Tedac to the three remaining soldiers. With the spike balls broken due to Mario's attack, the Bluecap soldiers charged for the Sandwich, pistols ready. Radnamok X blew his whistle again, and a single X Faction soldier dropped from the ceiling. Before anyone could react, he swerved around and shoved one of the Bluecap soldiers into the Headquarter Sandwich, then promptly flipped out.

"GYAAAH!" the unlucky soldier cried as the Sandwich sucked out his juices.

"Your damage is negatated, geeks!" shouted Radnamok X. "Now, prepare for the ultimate juicing!" He began firing the spiky projectiles.

"Do what we can, everyone!" ordered Tedac. He fired his pistol at one of the weapons, causing it to richochet back at the Sandwich.

While the leader was distracted with the Bluecaps, Peach decided it was her turn. She swiftly moved to the tank and gave it a good whack with her parasol. In response, the leader again released the now-repaired spike balls, which spun faster than ever. The soldiers and Peach carefully dodged them while they escaped. When they retreated, Tedac looked at the soldiers.

"There's only me and two of you left. That's fine. We can still make sure they can get the Pure Heart!" He walked to Bowser and whispered a plan to him.

"Got it!"

Tedac and the soldiers started firing at Radnamok X himself. The leader easily dodged their attacks. "Is that the best you dweebs can do?" Suddenly, the machine began to fizzle and spark.

"That's the best _they_ can do, but _I _can do better!" announced Bowser, who had crept behind the tank and had doused it with fire. It began to deteriorate, and sections of it collapsed.

"NOOO!" shouted Radnamok X. He tried pushing buttons and pulling levers, but nothing on the broken vehicle worked. Small explosions rocked it, and the machine began to shake. Soon, the whole room was shaking. "NOOOOOOOO! I CAN'T LOOOOSE! GAAAAAAHHH! NEEEEEEEERDS!" A bright light extended from the Sandwich, and it produced a massive, brilliant explosion. The green Pure Heart was released from the explosion and landed in front of Mario.

There was a moment of silence before Tippi spoke. "Well, that's that."

The elevator behind them opened, and three X Faction soldiers entered the area. "What happened?" one of them asked.

"We've defeated your leader," announced Tippi.

"What! Really! You survived the Headquarter Sandwich!"

"Yes...live with it. And we'll be taking the Pure Heart now."

The soldiers looked at each other. Slowly but surely, grins spread across their faces.

"HOORAY!" they all shouted.

"Wh...what!" exclaimed Tippi.

"THANK YOU! You can't possibly imagine how horrible it felt to be hypnotized and forced to do Radnamok X's bidding, and being subject to sandwiching at any time at that."

"..."

"You see, when Dimentio came, Radnamok X was a very unpopular leader. We realized a long time ago that it's not right to mindlessly judge people. But we were under his control, and the situation worsened when we were hypnotized."

"So...you never really supported Radnamok X?"

"_Support _him?" The soldiers were apalled. "Who their right mind would support that biased jerk? We had no choice! Obey him or be killed! And, in fact, several of us took our own games before this."

Tippi thought this over. "Incredible..."

"Yep! Now that Radnamok X's game is over, we don't have to serve him anymore. Heck, we're going to downright support you. Please, take the Pure Heart!"

Tippi looked at Mario. "Well, you know what to do!"

Mario nodded.

PURE HEART GET!  
-END OF CHAPTER-  
Winning the green Pure Heart had been our heroes' most difficult challenge so far. But with the help of Tedac and the Bluecap soldiers, they defeated the evil Radnamok X and the horrible Headquarter Sandwich. The world of the Bluecaps and X Faction was safe once more after the chaos of the past. With the newly united soldiers bidding them farewell, our heroes returned to Flipside. They had already acquired half of the eight Pure Hearts! But their quest was far from over. The search for the remaining Pure Hearts would inevitably become even tougher. Who knows what that sneaky Dimentio has planned for the location of the _next_ Pure Heart? And has he managed to find any minions yet?


	16. Intermission 4 4

"Was the Headquarter Sandwich successful, Master Dimentio?"

"I am sorry to say, but the heroes somehow managed to acquire the fourth Pure Heart."

"You must be joking with Count Bleck! How could they have gotten past the X Faction's security?"

"Well, they did have help from the Bluecaps."

"This is madness, complained Count Bleck. They already have half of the Pure Hearts, before we even activate the Chaos Heart!"

"In a way, I am actually glad that Radnamok X was defeated. That lunatic demanded far too much from me. But the heroes have the Pure Heart, and we can't do anything about that now."

"Sigh...well, all right. What is the nature of the dimension in which the next Pure Heart resides?"

"You don't need to worry about that. I have once again made sure the Pure Heart is safe from them. And this time, they won't have anyone to help them. Unless the inhabitants escape the palace, that is, which is _not_ likely."

"Excellent, agreed Count Bleck," agreed Count Bleck.

"And...you'll like this...I have an important announcement to make."

"What is it, Master Dimentio?"

"After I made sure things were OK in the next Pure Heart's dimension, I found someone willing to work for us!"

"Really? So you have found a minion?"

"Better than that. I have found TWO minions! And here they are now!"

On the lower platform not occupied by Bleck, a thin line emerged, indicating that the new minions were about to flip in. However, they did it with a bit more pizazz than Bleck. When the line was finished, the minions spun so fast while flipping that they were almost invsible, and blue-green energy beams crackled around the area they were entering. After a few seconds, the flipping stopped, and an energy-sound-wave echoed from the area they had appeared in. When all of this cleared, the two new minions were standing on the platform. The first one was shaped like a human, but the resemblances ended there. He was very robot-looking, with a squarish, tan head and two horns protuding from the top of it. In place of eyes, he had a very large pair of pointy black shades that were attached to his face. His head and his other body parts were connected by electric lasers to his body, and the left one of those hands sported a glowing red orb in the middle of its palm, as well as several things that looked like compartments for holding something down the arm. His right arm was equally un-humanlike; it had more compartments on its arm, and the end of the end formed a gun. His left leg looked like a beam of steel with a hinge, presumably containing a weapon. And finally, his right leg wasn't really a leg at all. It consisted of an upper section, looking like another compartment and colored bright red and orange, and a lower section, looking rather like an actual foot but having only two sharp metal toes. It was connected to the other section by a laser.

The second minion was equally as robotic. It was a small, white, trapezoid-cubish floating object, with a thin black streak across the middle that seemed to function as its eyes. Various machinery and colored buttons were placed around it, with a small jet engine at the bottom. Two sharp arms extended from its sides, seeming to have not much purpose.

"I am B-A Omega," the more humanlike one announced.

"And I'm Napoleon Johnson Wilson III divided by six to the eighth power," the small floating one claimed.

B-A Omega turned to face Napoleon Johnson Wilson III divided by six to the eighth power.

"H-X Alpha, tell him your _real_ name. Well, I guess I just did."

"So these are the new minions?" asked the count.

"Yes. They've demonstrated their powers for me, and it's obvious that they can crush the heroes with their advanced technological weapons. How about a demonstration, B-A Omega?"

"Yes, Master Dimentio!" The robot lifted his beam-of-steel leg, and the lower section folded itself backward, allowing him to fire a wide, multicolored laser from it.

"Count Bleck is impressed! The heroes stand no chance with you two working for us."

"Yep. Not a chance, not a chance, NOT A STINKIN' CHANCE, what are you STUPID?" rambled H-X Alpha.

"You dare address the great Count Bleck in that manner?"

"Easy, Bleck," calmed Dimentio.

"Where in the worlds did you _find_ these two?"

"I was searching the dimensions for potential minions, and I found these two. It almost seemed like _they_ came to _me_, and they were very willing to become my minions. From what they told me, they haven't always been robots. To be honest, I have no idea where they came from, as that's pretty much all they told me...but they seem like very willing minions, so I let them join."  
"I must thank you again, Master Dimentio," thanked H-X Alpha. "You have truly been a very positive influence on us, and I will enjoy working with you in the future."

"What is with H-X Alpha?" asked Bleck. "First he's insulting me, then he's speaking like a formal letter."

"Well, something apparently happened in the past that scrambled his brain circuits. He can still function properly, but he experiences...sudden and unpredictable personality changes."

"HEY DAWG, ARE YOU INSULTIN' ME? 'CAUSE BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO PEOPLE WHO DO THAT!"

"Since I have only recently enlisted them, I have not sent them on a mission yet. I wish to further test their abilities and decide on the right time to use them. But you don't need to worry. My plan to keep the fifth Pure Heart from the heroes is already set in motion, and if they somehow manage to get it, these two will take care of them properly."

"Absolutely," agreed B-A Omega. "We'll destroy those heroes for you, lickety-split."

"You have excellent motivation, B-A Omega," congratulated Dimentio. "That is all for now. Please return to your training areas. After I am finished with some business, I will help you."  
"Yes, Master Dimentio!" all three minions agreed. Count Bleck flipped out while H-X Alpha and B-A Omega performed their more exciting variation. Dimentio vanished to take care of his business.

"Timpani...dear Timpani...will I ever see you again?"

"I must do whatever I can to find her..."

"Hm? What's this?"

"It's a bat stuck in a trap...here, I'll get you out of there."

"Thank you deeply...may I ask your name?"

"I am called Blumiere."

"Thank you, Blumiere..."

"You are welcome...I will be on my way now."

"Blumiere...wait...Blumiere..."

"Please, you must do this for me!"

"I am willing to, but I want you to know that he will not accept you. He is already searching for his love."

"I know...but if not that, I truly desire to at least visit him. Please...you must do it."  
"Sigh...all right. I will do it."

"Blumiere..."

"Huh? Hm? Wha-"

"Blumiere...it's me."

"...You?"

"You're...the bat I set free?"

"Yes...Merlumina altered my shape so that I may...I may...um..."

"I already have a woman in my life...I am afraid-"

"No...not that. Blumiere, since you saved my life, I will pledge loyalty to you."

"I will do whatever you ask from this moment forward...because you were the one who saved me."

"Is somethin' wrong, Nastasia?"

"What? Um...well, you see, I've been thinking about my own past lately."

"Yeh 'ave?"

"Yes. I was remembering the day I met Count Bleck...I mean, Blumiere..."

"Really, then. Would yeh mind tellin' me what 'appened?"

"Well...back then, I was-"

"Was what?" asked Dimentio. "Go ahead, don't be scared. Tell us all about what happened back then!"

"Oh, it's YOU again!" complained Mimi. "Nastasia doesn't have to say it if she doesn't want to. I don't mind!"

"Oh, really? You all seem to be rather contemplative lately, and I know _all about_ your antics back in the time of the Ancients, so why don't the other two of you share your memories? O'Chunks already did. Who else wants to blurt out the crime that made them a perfect minion?"  
Mimi and Nastasia looked at each other nervously, not knowing what the other was thinking.

"Apparently I have no takers. That is just fine, for your game's end draws near."

"You always say that, but it never happens," accused Nastasia.

"I have greatly improved my strength since the last time we met. I will wipe the lot of you out, and then a huge portion of my plan will be complete. Complete, that is, as an idiot who thinks they can defend themself against me!"

"You can't do that. We'll just beat you like we did last time and the time before!"

Dimentio eyed Nastasia. "You're certainly feisty today, lowly _secretary_. Given that I know what you did after you swore loyalty to Bleck, I wouldn't be talking!"

"That...doesn't matter. We can take you anytime."

"Really. Well, since you're so energetic, can YOU take me anytime?"

"Wha...me!"

"Yes, YOU. I hereby challenge you to a one-on-one fight! You, with your lowly _secretariness_, and me, with _this_!" He snapped his fingers, and a round, green, transluscent shield enclosed him.

"Nastasia, it's too dangerous!" pleaded Mimi. "I'll help!"

"Silence!" ordered Dimentio. "I asked for a duel, and a duel I'll get!"

BOSS  
Dimentio  
Taking his bubble shield with him, Dimentio hovered to the left of Nastasia and fired two energy balls that careened toward her. She dodged the attack, but this gave time for Dimentio to fly to the other side of the area faster than Nastasia thought possible and fire two more, one of which hit her.

_He's picked up his speed, that's for sure_. She ran for Dimentio, and the jester stayed put, as if inviting Nastasia to attack him. When she tried to, she bounced off the green shield and flew across the area, skidding to a stop a few yards past Merlon's house.

"Your attacks are useless against my shield. You might as well give up, because there's no way you'll be able to harm me!" He snapped his fingers again and tried to enclose Nastasia in a glowing box, but she dodged the attack. She climbed on top of the box and attempted to hit Dimentio again, but she once again bounced off his shield.

"Didn't I already tell you that you can't harm me? Besides feisty, you're also rather stubborn."

Nastasia thought about how Dimentio's shield could possibly be penetrated. Before she could think very long, Dimentio released two pink energy balls, then vanished. She walked out of the way, but the later one bounced off the ceiling to hit her unexpectedly. When two Dimentios appeared, both enclosed in shields, Nastasia lost all hope. There was no way she could possibly defeat Dimentio like this. But as she attempted to dodge the pink energy balls, a sudden thought hit her. She raised her glasses, and attempted to hypnotize Dimentio. The real Dimentio was surrounded by the red energy bolts. Nastasia knew Dimentio, especially with his own powers of hypnosis, wouldn't be easy to hypnotize, but she hoped the mental assault would at least cause him to deactivate the shield. After concentrating on Dimentio for a few seconds, the bolts disappeared and Dimentio's shield shattered. While Dimentio was dazed, Nastasia quickly dashed toward him and delivered a spinning kick.

"Since when are you trained in martial arts?" asked Dimentio.

"It doesn't matter, since I've figured out how to hurt you!"

"Oh, you think it will be that simple? Think again!" The jester reactivated his shield and vanished.  
Nastasia looked around. _I'm ready for anything._

After a few seconds, _three_ Dimentios appeared, all surrounded by the green shield. They formed a triangle, surrounding Nastasia, and blasted her with a total of six pink energy balls.

"I...can't...fight!" groaned Nastasia.

"Here, take this!" advised Mimi, tossing her a Shroom Shake. "I bought this in case we needed it."

"Stay out of this!" shouted Dimentio. "You can't interfere with our-" Suddenly, Dimentio was surrounded by bolts again. He hadn't noticed that Nastasia had already used the Shroom Shake, and by talking, he had given away the fact that the bottom-right Dimentio was real. When his green shield deactivated, Nastasia attacked him again, causing him to vanish. The two fake Dimentios, however, didn't disappear, and continued to attack Nastasia with pink energy balls. She couldn't do anything without the real Dimentio availible for attack. "Come out, you coward!"

Dimentio did come out, again protected by the shield, and his two clones vanished. He snapped his fingers, and once again attempted to enclose Nastasia in the glowing box. Having done this several times by now, Nastasia escaped the box's perimeter and attempted to use it as a stepping stone to reach Dimentio, but the jester had his back turned to Nastasia, and continued creating glowing boxes to prevent her from reaching him. Now Nastasia couldn't do anything, since she needed to look in Dimentio's eyes to hypnotize him. However, Dimentio's attacks couldn't penetrate the boxes, so they exploded and Dimentio fired two pink energy balls while still facing away from Nastasia. She crept under Dimentio until she could face him, and before he could turn away, gripped Dimentio again and nailed her enemy.

"I must admit, you're getting quite good at this," admitted the jester. He had almost completely run out of health, and Nastasia was quite weakened as well. "But can you survive _my_ powers of hypnosis?" He unleashed his full mental power on Nastasia. Startled, Nastasia used her power of hypnosis as well, and the two were locked in a fight to see whose mind would dominate the other's.

"Come on, Nastasia!" cheered O'Chunks. "Yeh can 'ave that jester beggin' fer mercy in seconds!"

The two enemies continued focusing on breaking the other's mental defenses, and the struggle continued for a few seconds. Finally, Nastasia gave one final blow, and Dimentio toppled to the ground, health and shield gone.

"Darn it! How could I lose _three times_? And to this lowly _secretary_ at that!"

"Looks like you didn't have much more strength after all," said Nastasia.

The jester picked himself up. "Oh, I did, that's for sure. I just didn't get to use it, because you were so arrogant. Fear not, though-I will be back, and I will have the strength I had, plus even more. You will all be dead-so if you have anything you want taken care of, do it now!" He disappeared.

The heroes emerged from the yellow door and took the elevator down as usual. The situation seemed the same as always, and Merlon was outside again, so he asked them how they had done. "So you have found the next Pure Heart?"

"Yes," answered Tippi. "You should've seen what happened." Tippi described their adventures in the dimension of the yellow door, and how they had defeated Radnamok X and claimed the green Pure Heart.

"Oh ho, that's quite a tale. Yes, it would seem to me that, since you already have half of the Pure Hearts, Dimentio would be getting angry. He has probably already gone to the dimension of the next Pure Heart and did something to make sure you won't get it. But I'm certain that you will find the remaining half of the Pure Hearts, and I have just read something in the Light Prognosticus that has only increased my confidence."

"What does it say?"

"The book says this: 'When the eight sections of the Purity Heart have been collected for the second time, the one who plans to reactivate the Chaos Heart will reveal his deepest secret.' I am sure the book is referring to some sort of secret that Dimentio is hiding."

"You mean, how he plans to reactivate the Chaos Heart? Or what he remembered when his game ended? Or...something else?"

"That Dimentio is a mystery himself, all right. I say the best plan of action is just to continue searching for the Pure Hearts, and the prophecy will take care of itself."

"OK, Merlon." She turned to Bleck's minions. "Did Dimentio come again?"

"Yes," answered Nastasia. "In fact, he had a fight with me alone, but I managed to defeat him."  
"Does he seem to be getting any stronger?"

"He said he had gained strength since the last time, but he only had a shield. He said he'd demonstrate his new strength next time."

"He might have been lying to make you _think_ that," suggested Tippi. "But, who knows. We just don't know very much about him."

O'Chunks had been thinking during this time. "Yeh know what?" he started. "Maybe we should join 'em. We'll be safe from Dimentio that way."

"But if we do that, then Dimentio will go after the heroes," reasoned Mimi.  
"Mario an' the others can take 'im, right?"

"Well...I'm not sure."

"I know that me vote goes to joinin' 'em! Anyone else?"

"I'm not sure about this," said Nastasia. "We can't risk the heroes' safety by joining them. Dimentio will keep trying to end our games, and he'll probably try to end their games in the process."

_It's hard to imagine that just a while ago, they were all trying to kill us,_ reflected Mario.  
"Well, if he comes again, we can fight him off, right?" asked Mimi. "If O'Chunks really wants to go, he can, but if Nastasia and I are strong enough, we can probably stay here without putting the heroes in danger."

"But what if Dimentio has truly gained strength?" asked Merlon. "Without O'Chunks, he might be able to defeat you."

Nastasia thought this over. "Well, I think if I could defeat him by myself, than both Mimi and I could certainly defeat him."

"That's your opinion, hm? I guess if O'Chunks wants to join the heroes, he can."  
"All right, I'm joinin' yeh," announced O'Chunks. "And I'm gonna help yeh all get those Pure Hearts!"

-O'Chunks has joined the party!-

"Very well," congratulated Merlon. "Continue your journey, and I'll be here as always." He walked back into his house.

"Let's get goin'!" encouraged O'Chunks.

Our heroes, which now included O'Chunks, walked to the Flipside Outskirts again and took a left. Mario ground-pounded the pillars in the correct sequence, and the Heart Pillar appeared. Placing the green Pure Heart in the pillar, the patterns appeared again, and the green door was drawn into existence at the top of Flipside Tower. The heroes returned to the base, used the elevator, and walked past the red, orange, and yellow doors, entering the green one to start their Pure Heart search once again.


	17. Chapter 4 1: The Animauls

**A/N: OK, so I'm back. What's it been, like a year? Here's the newest chapter to Super Paper Mario: The Tribe of Darkness!**

Chapter 4-1: The Animauls

O'Chunks was now a member of the group, and he seemed enthusiastic about joining the heroes. But could Mimi and Nastasia fight off Dimentio if he reappeared? Our heroes had collected half of the eight Pure Hearts. If the Light Prognosticus was accurate, they would manage to obtain all eight-but Dimentio's continual schemes posed a serious threat to our heroes' objective. What awaited them in the world beyond the green door?

A line was drawn

Joining this line were a few others, coming in long, thin, vertical pairs, forming the trunks of palm trees. The leaves were then drawn, completing the trees. The ground was tinted yellowish-tan, indicating sand. Areas of tan colored the trunks of the palm trees, and green filled their leaves. In the background, waves were drawn in the ocean, and a few fluffy clouds appeared. Blue water cascaded down into the ocean, and the sky was softly given a light blue. Seashells and other objects appeared in the sand, and some greenish-tan blades of grass sprang up, just for decoration. The green door was drawn into existence, and our heroes stepped out of it and onto the beach.

"This is certainly a great alternative to that dreary swamp," reflected Peach.

Our heroes walked along the beach, doing the usual Hyper Goomba-stomping, ? Block hitting and getting Poison Mushrooms, and pitfalling. (You can tell it's getting harder.)

The sandy ground was pleasant to walk on as our heroes moved in the direction of the Pure Heart. "The Pure Heart is still far away..." sensed Tippi. "But it seems closer than the others when we started. Maybe this Pure Heart will be easier to find."

"But knowing Dimentio, he probably already came here and did...something," pointed out Bowser.

"Well, is there even anything on this beach?" asked Luigi. He looked into the distance.

"There's some hills out there, but I don't see much else."

When they reached those hills, they turned out to be quite steep. When Mario started climbing one, Luigi started coughing. "Stop kicking sand in my face!"

"Sorry, bro." Mario moved to the side, and the heroes climbed up the hill this way. When they reached the point where the ground leveled out, they noticed a steep uprise about a hundred yards from them. When they reached it, Mario knew what to do. He flipped into 3D and walked around it. _Wait a second..._He walked back around the uprise, noticing the other heroes couldn't come with him.

"What should we do?" asked Peach.

"Maybe there's somethin' yeh can hit or somethin'?" asked O'Chunks.  
"

I'll look." He looked around, and when he found nothing, flipped back into 3D and noticed a hole in the ground. He dropped into it, flipped back into 2D, and explored the cavern he was now in. There was a Hyper Spiked Goomba in this small room, so Mario carefully dodged it and dropped down another hole in the room's bottom to fall into a bigger room. This one had several Squogs, with rocks ready. Mario easily disposed of them and fell to the next level of the cave. He found himself sinking into quicksand.

_Waah!_He tried dashing for the other side, but the strong quicksand had pulled him down. Frantically, he tried pulling his legs out of the sand. He got his right leg out, but the left one remained stuck. Fortunately, there was a patch of stable ground where he could put his right foot while he pulled his left leg out. When he did so, he hit a switch on the stable ground, which caused two red squares on either side of the uprise connected by three long black rectangles to appear, that could be used to bypass the uprise. Mario used the conveniently placed pipe to return to the surface. Now the other heroes could get across. They stepped into the red square and were imprinted onto the vertical black rectangle, which carried them up and onto a horizontal black rectangle, carrying them over the uprise. They were taken to yet another rectangle, carrying them downward and dropping them off at another red square. The heroes walked on and entered the next area. This area seemed quiet, but it wasn't for long. After some more walking on the beach, our heroes heard a sudden shout. "HEEEEEELP!"

"Where'd that cry come from?" asked Mario, ready to spring into action.

"Up there!" pointed Peach, pointing to a place a few hundred meters in front of them where the cry seemed to have come from. They dashed to the area, and a boy who looked quite similar to the people of Flipside was there, apparently the one who shouted for help. The reason he cried for help was clear. Teddy bears, stuffed cats and dogs, and a few assorted dolls were beating up on him!

"Do you know where she is!" demanded one of the bears.

"I said I don't know! Why would I? That happened way before I was born!"

"Take him!" the bear ordered. The other apparent toys lifted him and carried him off to the distance.

"Hey! You guys!" shouted Bowser. "What are you doing?"

"We're taking him!" replied the bear. "Duh! What's it _look_like, Einstein?"

Bowser roared. "That is NOT how you address the great King of the Koopas!"  
"

Whatever you want, we're not letting you take him!" proclaimed Luigi.

"Oh really? Cats and dogs, attack!" While the others continued carrying the Flipside boy, all of the stuffed cats and dogs attacked our heroes!

MINIBOSS  
The Stuffed Cats and Dogs

The animals ran for Luigi, the closest one.  
"Take this!" shouted Bowser. He blasted one of them with fire, burning it to a crisp, but the others were too fast.

"I'll stop them." Mario used his mad jumping skillz and took out two more, but five still remained. A stuffed cat leaped over Luigi. Snickering, Luigi readied his Super Jump and dealt a blow from below. With two cats and two dogs remaining, they formed a square around Peach and jumped for her. While she tried to shake them off, Mario came to her aid and grabbed the two remaining cats. Before he could do anything, Bowser fried them. Only two dogs remained. They performed an amazingly high leap over Bowser and went for Mario. Before they reached him, Peach performed a dive and knocked them to the ground. Bowser roasted these ones as well.

"You are so vicious," complained Peach to Bowser.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"I must say, _that_was our easiest fight ever," said Mario.

"Totally. But I'm not satisfied. It's not like anyone got hurt. I just roasted a few stuffed animals."

"Speaking of which," started Tippi, "what was that whole thing about? Who did they want him to tell them about?"

"I have no clue," a voice came. Our heroes looked around, but they didn't see anyone. Just then, another Flipside boy emerged from behind a hill. "Now they've taken Fred! Oh, will this madness ever stop!?"

"Um...who are you?" asked Tippi.

"I'm Frank, a friend of Fred's. When the animals came, I got scared and hid. Fred wasn't so lucky."

"I see..." Tippi paused. "Can you tell us what's going on?"

"Are you sure? It's a long story..."

"Well, the knowledge might put us on the right path to find the Pure Heart. Please explain it to us..."

"A Pure Heart? You guys must be the heroes of legend! Anyway, I'll tell you what's going on. The Ancients considered placing a Pure Heart here when the Purity Heart was originally divided, but it was eventually kept in The Bitlands. Even so, some of the Ancients and some people from Flipside and Flopside settled here."  
_T_

_hat explains why they look like they came from Flipside,_thought Tippi. "So what was the stuffed animal attack about?"

"I was getting to that. You see, the Ancients' stuffed animals and dolls weren't any ordinary children's toys. They were living, created with a method similar to the one they used to create the Pixls. After the Pixl Uprising, the Ancients became concerned about their living toys as well, so they sent them all to live in this dimension. Even though they were alive, they were often abandoned when their owner had grown, like any toy, so they then found somone else willing to have them. Everything was OK for a while, until recently. One of the animals was suddenly driven insane. Apparently, his owner abandoned him, and no one had picked him up for several years. He went mad because of this rejection and how the other living toys suffered the same fate. So he organized all of the animals, dolls, and whatever else he could find, and they formed a group that call themselves the Animauls. Their leader is now called King Animaul. They've taken over Beachfront Town over there," he pointed, "and enslaved us all, except for some of us who managed to escape, like me."

Tippi thought this over. "King Animaul went mad over something that happens to them all the time?"

"Well, not quite. Apparently, he somehow found out that his owner, who abandoned him long ago, decided to leave him without a home and didn't care about any of the animals. He had previously thought his owner had just left him because she wasn't a child anymore, so it was a shock for him."

"So his owner was a girl? Is that who the bear was talking about? He wanted to know where King Animaul's former owner was?"  
"That would make sense."

"But...why would the Animauls listen to him? Surely they don't feel as strongly about the issue as he does."

"He convinced them that all of us...'us' meaning regular people, were barbarians who wanted to get rid of the animals. Yes, all of them joined him, either drawn into the organization by King Animaul's speeches, or...something else..."

Tippi suddenly knew exactly what was happening. "Dimentio is at work again," she reasoned.

"Dimentio?"

"He's an awful villain who's trying to destroy the world. We need the eight Pure Hearts to stop him. We already have four. Tell me, does King Animaul have anything resembling a heart?"

"I've never seen him, so I can't tell you. But I think I know where you're going with this. Dimentio gave the Pure Heart to King Animaul to guard."

"Yes. And he hypnotized all of the Animauls that didn't initially join King Animaul. It all makes sense now."

"So let's go fer the Pure Heart!" announced O'Chunks.

"What!? If the Animauls see you, they'll kidnap you and force you into slavery! If you guys want the Pure Heart, you'll have to come up with some kind of super-plan to avoid being captured."

"Well, we have to try," announced Tippi. "We can come up with a plan. Just like we tried and got into the X Faction's territory. And plus, considering how easily they defeated those stuffed animals, we shouldn't have too much trouble."

"Well, if you want to try, come this way," advised Frank. "Their headquarters is a giant palace on the other side of Beachfront Town, and that's probably where the Pure Heart is."

"All right, let's go."

-END OF CHAPTER-


	18. Chapter 4 2: Kara And Her Army

Dimentio was at work yet again. The Pure Heart was under the guard of the evil King Animaul. As our heroes continued walking on the beach, the town came into view. "The Pure Heart is nearer," announced Tippi.

"We'll have to be careful," advised Frank. "The town has been taken over by the Animauls, and, if you ask me, going into it is one step away from suicide."

"Then why are we even going in this place?" asked Peach.

"We have to go through it if we want to get to that palace. It's our only option."

"Sigh...well, all right."

Beachfront Town grew closer. "We'll have to stay silent," cautioned Frank. "We have to sneak through town if we don't want to be noticed by the Animauls. _Especially_if..."

"If what?" asked Tippi, experiencing a growing sense of dread.

"...Never mind. It'll just discourage you. It probably won't happen anyway. Come on."

When they reached the edge of the town, Frank instructed them further, whispering quietly. "We'll have to hide behind these buildings and be seen by no one. We can't let anyone know we're here, OK?"

"Right," whispered Tippi back.

The town was quite ordinary. Most of its houses had a yellowish tint, but many of the other buildings had a contemporary gray style. The space between buildings was a gray pavement road, giving the area a downtown vibe.

"Oh, darn it! There's a rabbit right there! Get behind this house, fast!" Frank and the heroes crept behind the house, not making a sound. After several seconds, Frank peeked around the corner. "We're safe. Here, follow me." He guided them through a section of town, hiding when neccesary, and came to a dimly lit alley. "Very few people...or Animauls...come back here, so we should be safe." They tiptoed along the alley, stopping briefly when they came across gaps between the buildings.

"What do we do if we get caught?" worried Peach, still whispering.

Frank thought. "Well, we'll try to escape," he answered, whispering as well.

"And if that doesn't work?"

"We'll struggle until we break free."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"We'll beg for mercy."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"There's no pleasing you!"

"We'll, let's just try not to think about that," advised Mario.

When they came to another gap between buildings, they began to hear footsteps coming from somewhere outside the alley. Frank peeked aorund the corner, and then, faster than the heroes would have thought possible, flattened himself against the wall next to them.

"Get down! Get down!"

"What? Is someone there?" asked Tippi.

"Remember when I said that something probably wouldn't happen? Well, it did! Now get down!"

They obeyed. After a few seconds, the footsteps faded away.

"What wassat?" asked O'Chunks.

"...Kara. She's King Animaul's right-hand man. I mean, girl. She comes through town every so often and looks for people who've escaped so she can round them up and bring them to the palace."

"Really?" asked Tippi. "Oh, great. What are we going to do with HER around?"

"You guys are so weak," insulted Bowser. "What are you worried about? If Kara sees us, I'll just fry her on the spot, and all of our troubles will be OVER!"

"Well...I'm not so sure," replied Frank. "You see, she's a rag doll-"

"And rag dolls are _extremely_flammable!"

"Let me finish. So, she's bigger than most of the other Animauls, and it was natural to make her a leader. She has troops of armed Animauls with her wherever she goes."

"What are they armed with? Candy cannons?"

"I've seen them with swords before. These aren't like the Animauls you defeated easily on the beach. With them around, you can't get anywhere near Kara. Our best option is to just try to get through the city without being noticed."

When they neared the end of the alley and were about to turn onto another street, they experienced a sudden tingling sensation. "Hey! There's someone down the alley!"

Our heroes whirled around. A doll had spotted them, and it was obvious that Kara and her army would soon be upon them. Our heroes observed several figures moving toward the beginning of the alley, but they were too far away to make out any details.

"Oh, RATS! Quick, around the corner!" Frank and the heroes dashed to the right and onto another street, but a teddy bear was right in front of their faces.  
"OVER HERE!" He pointed at them.

"Left, guys!" The heroes hurried down the next left turn, an area similar to the alley. "We can't keep running...oh! Here! Quick!" Frank ran up to a door. "This restaurant was abandoned a while ago, and it's deserted now. We can hide in the basement or something." The heroes ran into the building.

"What if they come here, though?" asked Mario. "They probably will."

"Let's put these tables against the door," suggested Luigi, in rush. He struggled to move a table.  
"I'll 'elp yeh with 'at!" O'Chunks easily grabbed the table and propped it against the door.

"We should have one more," advised Bowser. He picked up a table himself and added it to the blockade. "There. Now let's hide. Actually, I'd prefer to stay here and dish out some pain, but since you insist those Animauls have dangerous weapons, I'll hide."

Frank led the heroes past an EMPLOYEES ONLY sign and to to a staircase. Just as they began to descend the stairs, a voice came from the direction of the door. "You can't hide forever!"

"It's Kara!" yelped Frank. "They're here! Now RUN!"

"Wow," uttered Luigi. "For an evil, living doll that wants to force us all into slavery to King Animaul, she has a pretty voice."

"Shut up and get down here!" ordered Bowser.

The basement was dark and cobweb-infested. "Where can we hide!?" frantically asked Peach.

Frank looked around. "Behind this extra table!" He dove behind it.

There was a loud crash as Kara kicked the door open. "You're in here somewhere!"

"What do we do _now_?" asked Mario, realizing that they would be easily discovered.  
Speaking quickly, Frank provided a solution. "I don't think there's much of anything seperating the basements of the different buildings besides...wall stuff. I think Bowser or O'Chunks could probably use this table to rip a hole in the wall so we can escape."  
"Heck, I don't need a table, I'll do it myself!" Bowser charged up and rammed into the wall on the right with full speed, breaking a hole large enough for the heroes to fit through.

"Now let's make a mad dash for it!" Frank did exactly that, diving through the hole. Tippi and the five heroes followed, only to be confined to a few feet of space due to the stuff packed in this building's basement. Before they knew it, they heard Kara and her army descend the stairs in the basement they had just exited. The heroes froze, and Kara apparently looked around for a bit before noticing the hole in the wall. "_There_ you are!

Get them!" Her army began marching toward our heroes.

"Time for me to get us out of another jam!" Bowser clawed, pushed, and struggled, and managed to get some of this storage area cleared. Our heroes leaped over a cabinet, bounced off a washing machine, and dashed up the stairs. This building was apparently an office of some sort. Our heroes went for the door, but it soon became apparent that the door was guarded by several bears, all armed with disproportionally large swords, who had apparently stayed outside in case the heroes escaped.

"We've got you cornered." Our heroes looked in the direction of the stairs they had emerged from, and Kara, with her army, was standing there. Kara was quite large for a doll, with a pink dress, long blonde hair, blue eyes, and light blue shoes. If not for the stitches around her arms and legs, she could probably pass as a regular human. "Now, calmly allow us to take you in. You'll love serving King Animaul."

Luigi, his mind racing furiously, thought of something. "You think you've got us, but you can't ensnare the heroes of prophecy!" He picked up a heavy book from the nearby table and threw it toward a window, sending glass shards everywhere. The manuever halted Kara and the Animauls for enough time to allow the heroes and Frank to dash out the window and onto the street.

"Let's run for the other side of town for all we're worth," suggested Frank.  
They did just that. Or, at least, they tried to, for once they had walked a few blocks, several animals leaped on them and tried to push them back. Soon enough, they heard the army marching toward them. Was there any escape?

"Here!" pointed Frank. "Quick, let's go into this grocery store!"

"Won't someone be in there?" asked Peach.

"Dolls and stuffed animals don't have to eat, you know. Come on." They dashed away from the animals and followed him. "Let's look for an emergency exit in the back. We can escape on the other side if we're fast."

Before they had gotten a third of the way through, their pursuers banged open the door.

"RUN FOR IT!" shouted Frank. They turned down the vegetable aisle, assuming the animals couldn't keep up with them. However, they soon heard what sounded like cannon fire coming from behind them, and it soon became apparent that more sword-wielding bears were spinning through the air. As the heroes came to the end of the aisle, they turned right, hoping to find a back door, leaving the bears to smash all of those wholesome vegetables.

"OK, the exit should be right...here," said Frank. When he pushed it open, an alarm sounded. They began to walk out the door, but yet more armed bears were standing there.

Closing the door, Frank asked, "NOW what!?"

"Is there any other way out of this place?" asked Mario.

"Well, we could try luring the army away from the door and making a break for it, but it probably won't work."

"Well, it's worth a shot," advised Luigi. "And we'd better hurry. They're coming." Frank and the heroes turned down the snack aisle leading back toward the door. More bears came, destroying all of that tooth-decaying goodness. Our heroes almost reached the door, but those bears were hot on their heels.

"You guys want a fight?" asked Bowser. "I'll give you a fight!" He tried to knock the closest bear's sword away, but the bear brought the sword away from Bowser's hand and delivered a slash to Bowser's hand. "OW!" He wiggled his hand in pain.

"Can't beat those bears, huh?" Kara and her army were now standing right next to them.

"Well, I don't blame you guys. Those bears are our most highly skilled swordsmen. And they've trapped you here. So are you going to surrender, or do you need even more of a lesson pounded into you?"

O'Chunks, noticing that still more bears were guarding the entrance, looked around. "'Ey, Luigi, that was a mighty fine idea yeh had. Mind'f I borrow it?" He grabbed a cash register and threw it at the glass doors, shattering the glass and putting several bears out of commission.

Kara looked up, pulled a glass shard from her forehead, and threw it to the ground. "It doesn't matter if you can escape. We'll just keep-"

"This way!" directed Frank, pointing toward the side of town they were aiming for. The heroes began running away from the store.

As the heroes walked toward the other edge of town, they thought they were safe for a while. But, as they crossed an intersection, more bears leaped in front of them.  
"How many of you guys ARE there?" asked Tippi.

"We're those ones you saw in front of the emergency exit. And we're not about to let you get past!"

"Oh yeah?" Bowser readied his fire and expelled a wide streak. One of the bears was fried and another was singed, but the rest were too fast.

"Cornered!" Our heroes turned around, and discovered they were trapped by the bears on one side and Kara's army on the other.

"You'll never take us!" proclaimed Tippi.

"Oh, we won't? You might as well admit defeat. Both of your escape routes are blocked.

"If you don't want extreme pain, just surrender and allow us to take you in."

"OK," said Bowser. "I want extreme pain. Extreme pain to YOU guys, that is!"

MINIBOSS  
Kara's Army  
Bowser ducked into his shell and began spinning in a wide arc, knocking out the bears blocking their escape. He then went straight for Kara, but she quickly spun around and jumped out of the way. Bowser came out of his shell. "Want to see more? Or are you too afraid? Whatever, I'll show you more anyway!" He leaped through the air and smashed several Animauls with a ground pound.

"I'll give yeh some 'elp! Come 'ere, Bowser!" Knowing O'Chunks's plan would likely cause serious damage, Bowser obeyed. O'Chunks grabbed Bowser's tail.

"Oh no you don't!"

"Calm down. I'm doin' this fer our good!" He spun Bowser around just like Mario had done long ago, and when he had picked up enough speed, released Bowser. The Koopa King smashed through row after row of Animauls, taking care of all the bear swordsmen.

"I'll help!" announced Mario. He utilized his mad jumping skillz again to smash several of the remaining Animauls. Peach and Luigi soon joined him.

"There's no way you wimps can stand up to Bowser!" He grabbed a doll and sent it hurling through several other Animauls like a bowling ball.

While Mario, Luigi, and Peach continued stomping the remaining Animauls, O'Chunks decided to get into the action. He lifted into the air with a...rear-end gas expulsion, and in a few seconds he crashed down to the earth, destroying even more of Kara's forces. Only a few Animauls remained.

"I'll take care of this." Bowser flamed all of the remaining forces.

Kara looked around. "What!? That's it!? You defeated my army!?"

"You can't get in their way," Tippi explained. "They're heroes of prophecy."  
Kara paused for a while. "Hmph. I'll be back. And with even more reinforcements. So watch out." She began to turn to walk toward the palace, but before she could move, Bowser walked up to her.

"Hey, Kara, did you know that rag dolls are _extremely_flammable?" He doused Kara with a stream of fire.

"YAAAAAHHHH!" Kara looked down at her flaming body. "AAIIIYAHHH! You...evil...twisted...MONSTER!" She ran toward the ocean, sobbing in pain.

Bowser put on a smug grin. "That's what happens when you mess with the King of the Koopas!" He turned to the other heroes. When no one spoke, Bowser talked again. "Why the long faces? I showed her who's boss!"

"I think that was uneccesary," stated Peach.

"Why? She's not on our side, so I torch her and problem solved!"

"She's just going to come back with more reinforcements, torching or not," pointed out Luigi.

"Well, so what? Who cares if one wimpy doll is hurt?"

"What I'm saying is, just because someone's not on your side doesn't mean you have to hurt them if it's not neccesary."

"You guys destroyed all of those Animauls!"

"They were going to either kill us or force us into slavery if we didn't fight back. Kara couldn't do anything now that we defeated her army. We're heroes, and heroes don't hurt people for the fun of it."

"Do you think I joined you guys _willingly_? No! I only became a hero so that the world wouldn't be destroyed...and to please my wife. How'd you like it if I left? You'd be devastated _then_!"

"We can't make it through without yeh," agreed O'Chunks.

"Right, so as long as I'm sticking with you guys, you'd better accept me on my own terms and conditions, or I'm outta here!"

"Fine, Bowser," admitted Mario. "You can do what you want. But that doesn't mean we'll agree with it."

"Who cares if you agree with what I do? You're not _supposed_to. The Koopa King makes his own decisions."

"Fair enough. Now, I guess we should be heading to the palace as well, if we want to find the Pure Heart."  
"

That's definitely where it is," agreed Tippi. "I feel it more strongly here, and it's certainly in that direction."

"All right, let's go for it," announced Peach.

The heroes walked out of town and onto the beach, where they walked across the sand once more. _I am so getting out of here the first chance I get_, thought Bowser.

-END OF CHAPTER-


End file.
